BANGALORE: Karnataka Police Saturday detained two people for questioning over the attack on a Kerala legislator's daughter and her Muslim male friend in Mangalore town Friday evening, officials said.
"We have picked up two people for questioning in connection with the incident but haven't arrested them yet," a police spokesperson told IANS on phone from Mangalore, about 350 km from here.
The detentions came as Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa promised strict action against the guilty.
"I have instructed the police to take strict action. No body should and will be allowed to take law into their hands," Yeddyurappa said in Maharshtra's Nagpur town, where he is attending the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive meeting.
Shruti, a Class 12 student of St. Aloysius College, and her classmate's brother Shabib were on their way to Mangalore from Kerala's Kasargod town when a group of men dragged them out of the bus. They were taken away in an autorickshaw and released after a few hours.
Shurti's father C.H. Kunhambu, a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) legislator, blamed the Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sene for the attack but both groups have denied involvement.
Incidents of right-wing Hindu groups taking objection to Hindu girls talking to Muslim youth and in some cases assaulting the youth have become frequent in Mangalore.
The attack on the Kerala legislator's daughter has come two weeks after Sri Rama Sene activists bashed up girls for going to a pub in Mangalore.
Yeddyurappa, the first BJP chief minister of Karnataka, told reporters in Nagpur that "such incidents are intentional and are meant to tarnish the image of my party and government".