Another incident of moral policing in DK, how many more before cops pull leash on Hindtutva goons?
Bus stopped, young boy, girl harassed in police presence
Eye witness claims mob pressured parents of girl to file false case of abduction against boy
Mangaluru: With more than six incidents of moral policing in the last one month in Dakshina Kannada, the police department in the district is largely becoming toothless tigers against the right-wing Hindutva groups.
On late Thursday night, the hooliganism of these right-wing Sangh Parivar activists was once again on display and on peak when they stopped a Bengaluru-bound private bus Durgamba near Bantwal to intercept an inter-religion couple who was traveling on the bus.
The bus was stopped, the couple was dragged out, nearly assaulted and abused on National Highway for more than an hour before the local police reached the crime scene.
An eye-witness’ account on what prevailed for more than hour at the spot revealed that the mob that had gathered at the spot abused and tried to assault the young girl and boy who were both traveling to Bengaluru for their professional commitments.
The mob also alleged that the couple were in an illicit relationship and tried to twist the plot using the “Love-Jihad” angle. When the parents of the girl arrived, the eye-witness also added that the Hindutva goons pressured them to file a false case of abduction against the boy.
“The mob was very furious. They were shouting slogans and abusing the young couple. When the parents of the girl arrived they pressurized them to file a false case of abduction and assured that their lawyers would help to get the boy convicted” The eyewitness told Vartha Bharati.
“When the parents refused, they started abusing the parents as well and asked them to skin the girl alive.” he added.
Video of the young girl went viral wherein she was resisting the mob when they tried to barge into the bus and tried to drag her and her friend out of the bus.
“Even when the Hoysala Patrolling car of the police came, the mob completely took over the situation and the two constables who had come to the crime scene could not control them. It was only after a Sub-Inspector arrived at the scene that he took control.” The eyewitness further said.
The young boy and the girl were then taken to the Bantwal Police Station where their statements were recorded and they were let go. They however missed the bus as the bus was allowed to leave for Bengaluru when the victims were taken to police station.
The two victims are now left with traumatized mind and an anxious heart that are trying forget what transpired on the fateful night. The videos, and pictures of ID cards are now widely being circulated on social media platforms by the right-wing groups to tarnish the reputations of the youngsters.
No case was filed in this regard against the mob that stopped the bus without authority and created a law and order situation out of nothing. Although these incidents have been frequented in Dakshina Kannada from several years now, the police department has failed to take an action that would stop such gimmicks from these goons.
With the assembly elections nearing in the state, it will be important to see how the district administration and police department will control these Hindutva goons across the district.
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Huge turnout amidst SIR shadow caps ballistic battle for Bengal
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal assembly polls ended on Wednesday with what the election watchdog said was the state's highest-ever voter turnout of 92.84 per cent, leading to mouth-watering anticipation ahead of the announcement of results on Monday as both contenders sounded sanguine about their victory prospects.
Wednesday's second phase saw a 92.48 per cent turnout. The concluding phase covering 142 constituencies in south Bengal appears poised to match the first phase's record voter participation of 93.19 per cent by the time final numbers are collated.
The figures put the combined poll percentage over the two-phases at 92.84 per cent. The first phase of polling was held on April 23.
"This is the highest-ever recorded poll participation since Independence in West Bengal," it said.
The capital Kolkata recorded a turnout of 88.59 per cent, with Purba Bardhaman district topping the charts at 93.78 per cent.
The scale of participation sent out an overarching political message — practically every single eligible voter in the state felt personally invested in the electoral process and its outcome. They turned out in numbers large enough to make every narrative contested and every claim of momentum politically loaded. If the first phase tested whether the BJP could retain its north Bengal citadel, the second and final round was always the real battle for the saffron party on whether it could breach the ruling TMC’s southern fortress of Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas and Purba Bardhaman.
At the centre of the larger political fight stood Bhabanipur, no longer merely a south Kolkata constituency but Banerjee’s political refuge, her emotional home turf and the BJP’s chosen psychological battlefield.
Banerjee, 71, seeking a fourth consecutive term after 15 years in power, faced Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari in a prestige battle widely seen as a symbolic rematch of Nandigram, where Adhikari had defeated her in 2021 after crossing over from the TMC to the BJP.
Five years later, the duel shifted to Banerjee’s own bastion. For the TMC, retaining Bhabanipur is about protecting the chief minister’s authority in her own backyard. For the BJP, breaching it would puncture the aura of invincibility around Bengal’s most powerful political figure.
The constituency witnessed nearly 87 per cent polling, sharply up from around 61 per cent in the 2021 assembly polls and 57 per cent in the bypoll that brought Banerjee back to the House.
Banerjee – who usually votes later in the day and prefers staying indoors on the day of polls – broke convention and hit the ground before 8 am, moving through Chetla, Padmapukur and Chakraberia areas following complaints of alleged intimidation of local TMC leaders.
As she sat outside a booth amid heavy deployment of central forces, Adhikari arrived there and declared, "I will not allow any hooliganism." He opposed Banerjee moving around with "50-60 people" with her.
Banerjee accused the BJP of trying to "rig" the election by using central forces, election observers and officials.
"The BJP wants to rig this election. Polls in Bengal are usually peaceful. Is there a goonda raj here?" she said, alleging intimidation of TMC polling agents and late-night visits by CRPF personnel to party workers’ homes.
"The atrocities by the central forces are unprecedented. What is happening is not at all free and fair polls. But despite all this, we have full faith that we will win," she said after casting her vote.
Adhikari dismissed the charges as "frustration", claiming Banerjee had realised that "not a single vote was coming her way".
Tension flared again in Kalighat when Adhikari visited another booth, and TMC workers raised slogans against him. Police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse the crowd as BJP supporters answered with counter-slogans. Reports of sporadic tension were also received from some other areas amid sights of long queues at polling stations, booth-level flare-ups, and political bickering.
In Kolkata's Entally, BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal alleged that the TMC's polling agents tried to assault her after she objected to overcrowding inside a booth and a lack of voter privacy.
In Panihati, BJP candidate and the R G Kar victim's mother, Ratna Debnath, faced protests, while her party colleague in Basanti, Bikash Sardar, alleged that "200 to 250 TMC goons" attacked his vehicle and assaulted his driver.
The TMC, meanwhile, accused the central forces of exercising brute force on the general voters at Falta's Belsingha village, especially women, who were beaten up during a move to disperse a crowd from near a polling station.The party also alleged CAPF high-handedness on women and a four-year-old child at Sathachhia in Howrah and on villagers at Ausgram in Purba Bardhaman district.
"In the name of ensuring security, central force jawans are not sparing even women who were brutally lathi-charged. TMC protests this highhandedness of the male jawans who exercised brute force on unarmed villagers. We draw the EC's attention to such illegal actions of the CAPF and ask the poll body to issue cease-and-desist orders against such use of force. We believe, people of Bengal will respond to this on EVMs," Anirban Banerjee, party spokesperson, said.
The BJP alleged that in several polling stations in Falta, the option to vote for the party was blocked using a tape over EVM poll buttons, and demanded repolls in the affected booths.
The state’s Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal said repolling was likely to be announced in booths where EVMs were found tampered with. However, the order will only be issued after authorities receive reports from the district election officer or election observers regarding allegations of EVM tampering, such as using tapes or a blot of ink, he said.
