By IANS,
Bangalore : Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa Sunday asked Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury to stop making irresponsible statements on the attacks on women in Mangalore. “Let her come and ascertain the facts. A probe is on and the truth will come out. Till then she should stop making comments on the state government,” Yeddyurappa told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
Referring to Friday’s attack on the daughter of a Kerala legislator and her male friend, Yeddyurappa said “five or six people have been arrested”.
“Most of them are not from the state. They do not belong to either BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party ruling the state) or Sri Rama Sene. Investigation is on and till it is completed she should not comment on the state government,” he said.
“She has been making irresponsible statements,” Yeddyurappa said in reaction to Chowdhury’s comments that Friday’s incident and the Jan 24 attack on women in a Mangalore pub by activists of Sri Ram Sene showed a breakdown of law and order situation in the state.
On Friday, a group of people attacked Shruti, the daughter of Kerala Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) legislator C.H. Kunhambu, for talking to her male friend, a Muslim youth.
Shruti was talking to Shabib, a brother of her classmate, while travelling in a bus from her hometown Kasargod to Mangalore where she is studying in Class 12. When the bus neared Mangalore city, she and her friend were forced to get down, taken in an autorickshaw and released a few hours later.
Five people have been arrested. Four of them, including the driver and conductor of the bus, are from Kasargod, which lies some 50 km from Mangalore, according to Mangalore police.
In the Jan 24 incident, about 40 Sri Ram Sene activists barged into a pub and bashed up several girls for “violating traditional Indian norms”. Sene president Pramod Muthalik and 27 others were arrested and are now out on bail.
Chowdhury had termed Sene’s action as “Talibanisation” of Karnataka and charged that right-wing Hindu groups were emboldened because BJP was ruling the state.
She has been demanding action against Sri Ram Sene for its threat to disrupt Valentine’s Day celebrations in Karnataka on Feb 14.