BELAGAVI: A case has been registered under the Pocso Act against the NWKRTC bus conductor who was assaulted by a group of people in Balekundri (KH) on Friday for not speaking to a passenger in Marathi. According to the police, the passenger in question, a college student, is a minor girl.
The driver of the bus, Rajesab Momin, was also assaulted, according to the police complaint filed by conductor Basavaraj Hukkeri, who is undergoing treatment at a Belagavi hospital, following the attack.
The conductor had an argument with the college student when she insisted that he speak to her in Marathi, after he demanded that her male companion buy a ticket for the ride. Later, around 20 people boarded the bus at Balekundri and beat up the driver and conductor.
Kannada outfits that had already expressed their ire over the attack on the crew, raised the pitch several notches higher on Saturday.
Condemning the incident and registering of a case against the conductor under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, activists of Karnataka Nava Nirmana Sene blackened the face of a Maharashtra bus conductor and the front windshield of a bus in Chitradurga on Saturday. Meanwhile, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activists protested outside Marihal police station and at Channamma Circle.
Police have arrested four persons so far, including a minor, in connection with the assault. While three of them were remanded in judicial custody for 14 days, the minor was sent to a remand home on Friday night.
The incident led to disruption in bus services between Karnataka and Maharashtra, with Kannada outfits in Karnataka and Shiv Sena activists on the Maharashtra side of the border protesting.
Police commissioner Iada Martin Marbaniang said: “Three teams have been formed to search for the remaining accused. The victim was a minor girl, and a complaint was filed on her behalf under Section 12 of the Pocso Act against the conductor.”
Police said precautionary measures have been taken to maintain law and order, and SPs along the Karnataka-Maharashtra border will be told to share information about the steps to be taken to prevent any untoward incident.
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