Man stripped and beaten by 'moral police' for talking to a girl of different religion

A Muslim man was stripped and tied to an electric pole and beaten at a crowded market place allegedly by rightwing Hindu activists in Mangalore in Karnataka.

The 29-year-old was with his Hindu colleague in his car when he was stopped by the mob, the police said.

On 24 August evening, the activists forced the man to stop the car and dragged him out. They thrashed him and after stripping him, circulated the images on popular messaging app WhatsApp.

The police arrived when the visuals were flashed on local cable channels and over a dozen men were arrested.

The man and the woman both work in a supermarket in Mangalore. The man has told the police that he was attacked on his way to an ATM to withdraw money as the girl had asked for a loan.

The mob allegedly humiliated the girl also when she tried to intervene.

Flashback

Mangalore is familiar with such moral policing by violent mobs. In 2009, activists of the notorious Sri Ram Sene group had stormed in a pub. Later they had dragged women by their hair and slapped them, accusing them of denigrating Indian culture.