Man Stripped and Beaten by 'Moral Police' in Mangalore

Muslim man was stripped and beaten allegedly for speaking to a Hindu girl in Mangalore

Mangalore:  A man was stripped, tied to a pole and beaten allegedly for speaking to a woman from a different community in Karnataka’s Mangalore.

The police say 14 people have been taken into custody based on video evidence.

The 29-year-old man was in his car with the woman, his colleague, on Monday evening when he was surrounded and attacked by the mob.

The attackers thrashed the man, stripped him, paraded him, tied him to a pole and circulated the images on WhatsApp. The beating continued for nearly an hour.

The police arrived when the visuals were flashed on local cable channels.

The man and the woman both work at a mall. He told the police that he was attacked when he was on his way to an ATM to withdraw money for the girl, who had asked for a loan.

The mob allegedly also humiliated the girl when she tried to intervene.

Mangalore is familiar with moral policing by violent mobs. In 2009, activists of the notorious Sri Ram Sene group stormed a pub, dragged women by their hair and slapped them, accusing them of denigrating their culture.