MANGALURU: A local court in Mangaluru on Tuesday acquitted all the 39 accused in the infamous 'homestay attack' case citing lack of evidence. The 6th Additional District and Sessions Judge S V Kantharaju acquitted Subhash Padil, Hindu Jagrana Vedike members and others. The incident had caught national attention after the videos of the incident in which the accused assaulted the male and female students were broadcasted on news channels.
The incident occured 12 years ago, on July 28, 2012 when 13 college students gathered for the birthday party of their friends at the Morning Mist homestay near Padil Junction. When the birthday party was underway, a group of 40 right wing activists led by Subash stormed the homestay at around 6pm with three video journalists in tow.
The city police had arrested 44 persons in connection to the case including journalists Naveen Soorinje, Sharan Raj and a charge sheet was filed against them. Later Soorinje was acquitted in January 2018. Three accused have died and a minor accused was later acquitted by the Juvenile Justice Board later.
The HJV activists were accused of assaulting the youth, even tearing the clothes of some girls and also misbehaving. There were allegations by the victims that the accused forced a few girls to sit along a male friend who was bare-chested inside a room and took videos and photographs and circulated the videos and photographs causing mental trauma to the victims. Two of the victims were daughters of a police officer.
As many as 39 accused faced the trial, Vijay and one of the girl victims had narrated the incident in the evidence while other victims could not identify their assaulters. Now, the court has acquitted all the accused citing insufficient evidence. Advocates Shambhu Sharma, Kishore Kumar and others argued in favor of the accused.