Five held for restricting people from purchasing from 'Hindu store': Police

Davangere: Five men from the minority community have been arrested for allegedly restricting people from their community from purchasing clothes from a store at Davangere, police said on Monday. “We have arrested five men who were restricting women from purchasing from a store. They told people going to the store that being Muslims why are they purchasing from there,” Davangere Superintendent of Police Hanumantharayappa told.

The police registered a case based on footage in four videos, which have gone viral, where the men are seen purportedly questioning and pestering a burqa clad woman for purchasing from a ‘Hindu store.’ They are heard shouting at the woman and seen snatching the shopping bags from her.

According to police, cases have been registered against them under various IPC sections including unlawful assembly, rioting, and wanton vilification or attacks upon the religion or race. A similar incident took place in Harihar, another town in Davangere, where a few youths allegedly abused women for purchasing from a Hindu store and made them come out from there, police said.

Reacting to the incident, BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje wanted to now if “Karnataka is an Islamic republic” and demanded strict action against the culprits. “Whether Karnataka is an Islamic Republic!!!??? Radicals threatening Muslim women for purchasing garments from a Hindu’s shop in Davangere! These religious extremists who are enforcing sharia in a democratic nation must be given the taste of Indian Law,” she tweeted,tagging Union Home Minister Amit Shah.