BENGALURU: Following Wednesday’s attack on three youngsters in Vidyaranyapura for raising a religious slogan, BJP workers and members of pro-Hindu outfits staged a protest outside Vidyaranyapura police station on Thursday morning, condemning the incident. The victims also participated in the protest.
The protesters, after submitting a memorandum to DCP - North East division, called off the protest, demanding strict action against the accused. Meanwhile, two of the four arrested are said to have been under the influence of alcohol. All the accused were subjected to medical tests to check if they were under the influence of any drugs.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje who is contesting from Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency, met the victims at their residence on Wednesday night and condemned the incident.
Vidyaranyapura police arrested four youths -- Farman, Sameer and two minors -- on Wednesday, within a few hours of the incident. The accused are said to be residents of Kodigehalli.
D Pavan Kumar, a victim and a a resident of Sahakarnagar, said they were going in a car towards MS Palya, when five men attacked them for chanting religious slogans.
Rahul, another victim, said they were coming from GKVK towards MS Palya when the accused blocked them and threatened them to chant the slogan. “After we got out of the car, the accused hit me on the head with a stick from behind. They also hit my friends on the face and legs,” he added.
‘CM, DCM responsible’
BJP leader Tammesh Gowda, who led the protest, said that CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar are responsible for such incidents. There is rampant ganja peddling in MS Palya and a few property owners have put up their properties for sale.
A case of deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings by insulting its religion or religious beliefs (IPC 295A) uttering, words, etc, with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings (IPC 298), unlawful assembly (IPC 143) rioting (IPC 147), voluntarily causing grievous hurt (IPC 326) along with other sections of IPC has been registered against the accused.