Pro-Hindu groups demand to take inter-faith couple along, clash with police

Some pro-Hindu groups in Karnataka's Bagalkote district clashed with the police, leading to a lathi-charge and stone-pelting on Thursday. The incident took place after the groups sought to take along a Hindu man and a Muslim woman who recently got married.

After the police refused to send the couple along, the pro-Hindu groups pelted stones, which led the police to lathi-charge the group members to disperse them. The couple recently got married in Karnataka's Badami and had come to the Bagalkote police station to seek protection. A missing persons case was filed by the woman's family.

"Some pro-Hindu groups arrived at the police station saying there was a missing complaint against a woman. We asked them to file a complaint and leave, but they didn’t listen. When we tried taking them into preventive custody, they began to attack the cops," said Bagalkote SP Amarnath Reddy.

The couple came seeking police protection, along with their parents. This is when some pro-Hindu groups came to the police station and started demanding that the newly married couple be sent along with them.

According to police, the groups were apprehensive about leaving the couple with the police.

The police refused their demand and continued with their due procedure. The parents were informed about the marriage by the police.

"Since the couple were adults, there were no objections. We sent them off safely after informing their parents," said the Bagalkote SP.

The police also said they did not know how the pro-Hindu group came to know about the couple's marriage. The Bagalkote SP said that some cops were also injured in the clash.

However, according to a pro-Hindu group member, some workers were threatened and they brought this to the notice of the police.

"Yesterday, some pro-Hindu workers were threatened. This has happened about four to five times. We brought it to the notice of top officers and protested outside the police station. The police deliberately provoked us and brought in other people," a pro-Hindu worker said.

"For every protester, there were nearly 10 people who rounded up and assaulted us like they wanted to kill us. What's wrong in protesting?" he added.

The worker also sought protection for pro-Hindu groups and said they were lathi-charged only because the police thought they should not protest.