JOIN USFive youth involved in moral policing were convicted and penalised by the Sixth Additional District and Sessions court on Thursday.
A 19-year-old girl from the Hindu community pursuing journalism course in Manipal had befriended a Muslim youth from Udupi on a social platform, Instagram.
On April 2, 2016, the student who hails from Maharastra and the Muslim youth had travelled to Mangaluru and had watched the Hindi film `Ki and Ka’ at Forum Fiza mall.
When they were about to engage a rickshaw from the mall, five men had pounced on the Muslim youth and had dragged him to a narrow lane behind the mall. Later, the five youth had fled after assaulting the Muslim youth for accompanying a girl from Hindu community.
Based on the complaint from the girl student Pandeshwar police registered a case and arrested Chethan (23) from Kavoor, Rakshith Kumar (21) from Shringeri, Ashwin Raj (21) from Khanduka, Sushanth Shetty (23) from Karkala and Sharath Kumar (20) from Car street involved in the moral policing.
Then police Sub-Inspector Ananth Padmanabha filed a chargesheet in
the court.
During trial the girl turned hostile, prompting the court to observe that the prosecution had failed to prove charges of attempt to murder. Based on the statements of 11 witnesses, 17 documents including the doctor’s report submitted by Public Prosecutor Judith O M Crasta, the VI Additional District and Sessions Judge Sayeedunnisa declared the five youth guilty under section 143 (unlawful assembly), 148 (possession of lethal weapons), 342 (illegal confinement), 323 (assault with hand)and 324 (for assaulting with sticks). Each youth was ordered to pay a fine amount of Rs 21,000. An amount of Rs 50,000 from the total fine amount should be paid as compensation to the Muslim youth, the judge
declared.
This is the second incident of youth involved in moral policing being punished by the court. In the first instance, Muslim youth who had assaulted a boy from Hindu community for accompanying a girl from Muslim community in Konaje in 2011 were also declared guilty by a court. Incidentally in the first case of moral policing, Judith Crasta was the public prosecutor.