Bengaluru, Sep 20 (IANS): In a twist to the moral policing case that shocked the state of Karnataka, the two accused persons who thrashed a Hindu man for dropping a Muslim female colleague, have told police that their moral policing act was aimed at getting publicity, police sources said on Monday.
The accused persons -- Suhail and Nayaz have told this to investigating Sadduguntepalya police.
The case drew sharp reactions from across the state after video of thrashing was uploaded on the social media.
Even Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had reacted and said his government will deal with such incidents with an iron hand while directing the police to arrest the accused persons.
The accused had followed a bike on which the victim, a married Muslim lady who works in a private company, was being dropped by a Hindu colleague to her house as it was late evening.
The two accused waylaid the bike and thrashed the the man. They made the woman get down from the bike and snatched her mobile, called up her husband and scolded him for allowing his wife to be dropped off by a person belonging to different religion.
The accused had uploaded the video on social media platforms. The incident had taken place on Friday evening (September 18). When the video went viral, the accused deleted it and disappeared.
However, the police managed to track down the woman and got details of the accused and lodged a complaint against them in Sadduguntepalya police station. The duo were nabbed in 12 hours on Saturday. The police registered the case under IPC Section 354 (molestation), 341 (Wrongful restraint), 504 (using filthy language), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 153 (A) (creating enmity between the groups).
The accused during interrogation told the police that they have uploaded many such videos in the past on social media platforms and they got good response from users. Encouraged by this, they were into moral policing and it gave them publicity, police sources said. The accused told the police that they expected to get appreciation for their 'work' this time too and they thought it would make them popular and they never thought that they would land up in jail. The investigation is on.