1 week Ago By OpIndia Staff
Commenting on the recent incident of harassment of an interfaith couple in a park in Bengaluru by a group of 5 men, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge said that the state government would not tolerate any “moral policing” in the state. Taking a dig at Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, which have BJP governments, Kharge said that Karnataka is a “progressive state”, unlike the three states. “This is not Bihar or Uttar Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh.
Karnataka is a progressive state,” the Minister was quoted as saying.What was the incidentThe Bengaluru police arrested five men based on the complaint of the woman. The incident took place three days ago in an area under the Chandralayout Police Station.
A video of the incident went viral, showing five men harassing a burqa-clad woman sitting on a scooter with a Hindu male friend in a park. The men questioned the woman about whether her family knew her whereabouts. They also confronted her male friend and asked him why he was sitting with a woman of a different faith.
“The couple was sitting on a scooter when five people questioned them. The girl was wearing a burqa. We have received a complaint from the woman based on which we have registered a case.
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We are continuing our investigation,” the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Girish, was quoted as saying. The police have denied any violence, but another video reportedly showed the men surrounding the male friend and hitting him with an object.Other incidents of “moral policing” from KarnatakaThis is not the first time that such an incident of “moral policing” has come to light in the Congress-ruled state.
Last year, in April, a Hindu man, Umesh, was brutally beaten in Chitradurga city of Karnataka by an Islamist mob for offering a ride to a Muslim woman. Umesh was dropping his colleague Parveen at her house when the incident took place. Umesh was seriously injured one the attack.
In a similar incident that happened in the same month last year, a Dalit Hindu man, Sachin Lamani and his Muslim cousin-sister Muskan Patel, were brutally assaulted by a group of Muslim men in Belagavi, Karnataka. The victims were attacked at the Fort Lake premises. They had come to register for the Yuva Nidhi scheme.
Lamani’s aunt, his father’s sister, married a Muslim man, and therefore, his cousin is Muslim. A case was registered under the SC/ST Atrocities Act.In another incident of “moral policing” that happened in January 2024, an interfaith couple was attacked by six Muslim men in a hotel room in the Haveri district of Karnataka.
The six men barged into a room in a hotel in Hanagal Taluk of Haveri District, where a Hindu man and a Muslim woman were staying. They abused and thrashed the couple and recorded a video of the attack. The police took action against the attackers after the video went viral.
The woman later said that she was gang-raped by the attackers after they took her away from the hotel.A similar incident was reported from Karnataka in August 2023, a man named Jakir Ahamad was arrested after he harassed a burqa-clad Muslim woman for travelling with a Hindu man. In a viral video of the incident, Jakir was seen stopping the woman travelling on a bike with a Hindu man and abusing her as she stood her ground.
A case was registered by the police against the accused.‘Bhagwa love trap’ conspiracy theory and its aftermath‘Bhagwa Love trap’ is a baseless theory about Hindu outfits, supposedly training Hindu youth to lure, and entrap Muslim women and turn them into non-Muslims. OpIndia has reported that an Islamic cleric by the name of Sajjad Nomani has been making such outrageous claims since 2021.
The conspiracy theory soon took the form of a social media hashtag, which Islamists used to share videos of random hijab-wearing Muslim women and their male Hindu friends/ acquaintances and partners without their consent. The posts are often accompanied by emotional messages and seek public help in identifying the couples. Soon after, social media was rife with videos of Islamist mobs ambushing random Hindu-Muslim couples.
This would then be followed by heated arguments, physical assault on Hindu men, and even molestation of Muslim women. The victims have been targeted on roads, restaurants, eateries, and even hotels.Based on local reports and social media videos, OpIndia has compiled several cases (here, here and here) where Hindu men and Muslim women were attacked by extremists under the pretext of the ‘Bhagwa love trap.
’ OpIndia has also published an investigative report, highlighting how Islamists are using WhatsApp groups to target Hindu-Muslim couples..
