By IANS,
Bangalore : Activists of a self-styled pro-Hindu moral brigade called Sri Rama Sene barged into a pub in the coastal city of Mangalore Saturday and bashed up a few young girls for “violating traditional Indian norms”, police said Sunday.
At least two girls were punched and their hair pulled by the activists 4 p.m. Saturday at the pub Amnesia – The Lounge in Mangalore, about 350 km from here. The young men accompanying the girls to the pub on the busy Balmatta Road were also assaulted when they tried to protect their friends.
Ten of the activists have been arrested by Mangalore police.
From the accounts given by the eyewitnesses, who did not want to be identified, the girls were the target of attack.
About 40 men forcibly entered the pub claiming unethical activities were on inside and pushed their way inside.
They began assaulting the young men and women who ran for safety. At least two of the girls started screaming for help as a man pulled their hair. Both the girls fell down but managed to flee from the attackers.
“We have arrested 10 people in connection with the incident. They all belong to Sri Rama Sene,” Dakshina Kannada police superintendent N. Sateesh Kumar told IANS from Mangalore, the district headquarters.
The ugly incident has a murky dimension also with leaders of Sri Rama Sene and Bajrang Dal, another pro-Hindu organisation fighting to take credit for the attack in the name of punishing those going against “traditional Indian norms”.
Mangalore police said the girls had suffered minor injuries.