A day after a group of Bajrang Dal members allegedly created ruckus at a pub in Mangaluru in coastal Karnataka, the City Police on Tuesday decided to initiate only security proceedings under Sections 107 and 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure as neither the affected students nor the pub management came forward to file a complaint.
“No complaint has been filed against the persons who created a ruckus. As a precautionary measure, to prevent such incidents from recurring, we are initiating security proceedings, ” Commissioner of Police N. Shashi Kumar said. This implies that those involved will be asked to submit an undertaking of “good conduct”.
Around 8 p.m. on Monday, a group of Bajrang Dal members reached Recycle Pub, off Balmatta Road, and asked the security personnel about the age of the 30-odd students partying inside the pub. The security personnel took the matter to the pub manager who, in turn, enquired with the students about their age. Soon, the students left the place, Mr. Kumar said.
The 2009 incident
This pub is the same one (then called Amnesia) where Sri Rama Sene members had beaten up youth coming out of a party in 2009.
“So far we have not heard of any students being assaulted inside the pub. The bouncer told us that the activists were outside the pub,” Mr. Kumar maintained. The pub owner was based in Mumbai and the police have secured access to the CCTV footage of the premises.
During the inquiry of students, the police found that eight of the 18 in the pub were aged below 21, who cannot be served liquor. “We have reported this to Excise Department,” Mr. Kumar said.
Recently action was taken against another pub in the city for serving liquor beyond the permitted hours, he added.
Mangaluru City North MLA Y. Bharath Shetty claimed that the Hindutva organisation members “did not raid” the pub, but they had “only enquired” with the bar manager and the bouncer about serving liquor to underaged students.
Police stand questioned
Democratic Youth Federation of India State president Muneer Katipalla said criminal action should be initiated against Bajarang Dal members for abusing partying students and forcing them to leave the place. He questioned the “soft stand” of the police in the episode against the Hindutva group.
Meanwhile, the police said that the 30-odd degree students present at the pub had no links with the minor students of a city college who were recently accused of sexually assaulting their two classmates.
“These students are different and have no links with the students accused of sexual assault,” Mr. Kumar said. He claimed as “false” reports by a section of the media which stated that the students at the pub were those accused in the sexual assault case.
