BENGALURU: KP Agrahara police have registered an FIR against a security guard and the owner of GT World Mall for denying entry to a farmer wearing a dhoti and turban on Tuesday evening.
The incident came to light after the farmer’s son posted a video on social media. Members of Kannada and farmers’ organisations staged a protest outside the mall on Thursday.
The police registered the FIR under Section 126(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (wrongful restraint as the voluntary obstruction of a person, preventing them from proceeding in any direction they have the right to) on a complaint by A Dharmaraj Gowda, a Kannada activist, on Wednesday evening.
The mall owner has been made accused No 1, while the security guard accused No 2. Fakirappa, the farmer from Haveri, had gone to the mall along with his wife and son to watch a movie. Security guard Arun Eta stopped Fakirappa from entering the mall for wearing a dhoti and turban.
Nagaraj, Fakirappa’s son, who objected to the guard’s action, posted a video of the incident on social media. After the video went viral, farmers and Kannada activists protested outside the mall. They summoned Fakirappa to the mall and felicitated him. The protesters forced the mall’s security head, Yeshwanth, to apologise to the farmer for the guard’s act.
Meanwhile, Eta told police that the farmer was stopped from entering the mall as an event was being held inside it. However, the farmer was let in later, he said in his statement. Further investigations are on.