A Bengaluru shop owner Sunday alleged that he was assaulted for playing Hanuman Chalisa.
The victim, Mukesh, 26, owner of Krishna Telecom, said, “I was playing Hanuman Chalisa and some locals got offended. They threatened to destroy my office if I continued to play music during Azan. I told them that it was not Azan time yet but then they dragged me out and assaulted me. All of them were locals and I have seen them in the past.”
Mukesh filed a complaint with Halasuru Gate police station and a case was registered under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation), 504 (provocation), and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), among others, of the Indian Penal Code.
The FIR has been registered against one Suleman, Shahnavaz, Rohith, Dyanish, and Taruna, among others. The police have arrested three –Suleman, Shahnavaz, and Rohith – till now.
Meanwhile, pro-Hindu activists staged a protest outside the police station on Sunday night demanding the arrest of all accused. Opposition BJP also attacked the Congress-led Karnataka government over the issue.
BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya posted on X, “Ever since the Congress won in Karnataka, there has been a complete breakdown of L&O in Bengaluru. There has been a terror attack, shoot out and now radical elements barge into a shop and beat up the owner. Vote for Congress, and suffer their appeasement politics.”
Former BJP minister C T Ravi posted on a social media platform, “Under the Tughlaq Durbar of CONgress in Karnataka, it is a crime to be a Hindu listening to Hanuman Chalisa in your own shop in Bengaluru. Brothers of DCM D K Shivakumar will attack you! How long should Hindus suffer due to the Appeasement Politics of Communal CONgress?”