The Belagavi police arrested nine of the 17 persons accused of assaulting a man and a woman in the city on Saturday.
The mob was under the wrong impression that the two were in an inter-faith relationship. However, it turned out that they are brother and sister, related to inter-faith couples. The girl happens to be the daughter of the boy’s aunt, who is married to a man of another faith.
On Saturday, the mob waylaid the man, 23, and the woman, 22, who were sitting on the Fort Lake Tankbed and talking.
The man belongs to the Lambani community and the girl is a Muslim.
The mob suspected that they were in an inter-faith relationship. It forcibly took them to a room near the lake and beat them up.
The attackers did not listen to the pleas from the man that they were not in a relationship.
Finally, the man managed to call his parents who launched a search for them and also alerted the police. The police used a triangulation tool and traced the location of the man.
The police rescued them and took them to hospital.
The man and the woman have suffered injuries and are now being treated at the district hospital.
BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister K.S. Eshwarappa visited them on Sunday and demanded justice in this case.
“It is very unfortunate that goondas attacked the two innocent youth who were brother and sister and the police are taking it easy. No Minister or politician has come to visit the two in the hospital nor offered them moral support. The State government should prove its secular credentials by arresting all the goondas who are accused of this offence,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner Rohan Jagadish told journalists in Belagavi on Sunday that investigators are studying CCTV footage and other clues and would soon arrest the other accused.
He said that two of the arrested are minors in conflict with the law.
The arrested include Umar Sadiq, Saif Ali, Mohammad, Atif, Aman, Rihan and Azan. Two of the other acc
