In-focus

World

Indian police arrests Hindu extremists for assaulting party goers

Dunya News

50 men of Hindu Jagaran Vedike group raided a private resort and assaulted partygoers.

Indian police Sunday arrested eight people for an assault on young women and men allegedly by members of a radical Hindu outfit objecting to their immoral behaviour, local media and officials said.Already eight people who were involved in this incident have been arrested and criminal cases have been booked against them, Karnataka chief minister Jagdish Shettar told reporters in Bangalore.Video footage aired on local TV Saturday showed the attackers slapping and hurling abuses at the women and forcing them to show their faces to the camera.A young woman trying to escape was dragged back and assaulted by activists, who said they were acting to prevent immoral activities.The incident recalled a similar attack in Mangalore in 2009 when activists of a right-wing Hindu group, outraged by what they viewed as obscene behaviour, stormed a bar and assaulted female patrons.Who gave these people authority to attack a private property and assault people? R. Ashoka deputy chief minister of Karnataka state asked in state capital Bangalore on Sunday.The attack reignited debate over what constitutes culturally acceptable behaviour in modern India, a traditionally conservative society where women face pressure to remain modest at all times.