BALLARI: The police have taken a woman and her relative into custody for not allowing a group of SCs to have food in their hotel at Gutteganur village in Kurugodu taluk.
Hotel owner Nagaveni and her relative Veerabhadrappa have been booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
According to sources, the incident occurred in the village a few months ago. But a video of the incident went viral on Tuesday and tension prevailed in the village after members of the SC community registered their protest. Accordingly, the police initiated action against Nagaveni and Veerabhadrappa. A peace meeting was held in the village on Thursday by the tahsildar and police officers.
The video shows Veerabhadrappa and Nagaveni asking the group from Gutteganur village not to enter their hotel stating that they would not serve food to members of the SC community. Enraged by this, the group took Veerabhadrappa and Nagaveni to task. After the video went viral, the police summoned the SC youth and recorded their statement. A senior officer from the Kurugodu police station said the atrocity case was registered against the duo based on the video footage and the statement of the SC youth. Further investigations are on, he added.
One of the complainants alleged that Nagaveni never allowed SCs and STs to enter her hotel. Even if they entered the hotel, she used to clean the premises after forcing them to leave.