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Moral Policing In Mangalore Yet Again? Muslim Man Beaten For Talking To Hindu Colleague

Moral Policing In Mangalore Yet Again? Muslim Man Beaten For Talking To Hindu Colleague
Screenshot/ANI Twitter

In another shocking case of moral policing in Mangalore, a man was stripped, tied to a pole and flogged for over an hour at a crowded marketplace.

What was his crime? He spoke with a woman co-worker in the street who happened to be from another religious community.

According to reports, policemen reached the spot after local cable television channels began showing visuals of the man being beaten up. The police say 14 people have been taken into custody based on video evidence.

Among the arrested, some are suspected Bajrang Dal activists, reports Hindustan Times.

The 28-year-old victim claimed that he had met his woman colleague to lend her some money on Monday evening when he was assaulted.

According to the man's police complaint, they were on their way to an ATM so that he could withdraw cash for his colleague when a gang armed with knives and staves attacked them.

Youth thrashed in public for travelling with a girl in Mangalore pic.twitter.com/15sR4Z3poK

— ANI (@ANI_news) August 25, 2015

Both the man and the woman reportedly work in the same store at a mall in Mangalore.

When the woman tried to intervene, she was reportedly slapped by the mob too.

This is not the first time such an incident has taken place in Mangalore: In fact, over the last decade, several brazen attacks involving groups such as the Bajrang Dal, Sri Rama Sene, Hindu Jagarana Vedike and the Islamist group, Popular Front of India, have been reported.

In March, this year, Bajrang Dal 'activists' objected to female students traveling on a study trip, finally cancelling the college trip. A month before that, a college student was reportedly abducted and assaulted by a group of men. He was wrongly identified as the person featuring in a photograph shared on WhatsApp, which showed a man lying on the laps of fellow lady students.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.