Kasaragod, Feb 07: The teenaged daughter of CPI(M)
MLA from Manjeshwar C K Kunhambu who was dragged out of a bus
along with her acquaintance while they were travelling to
Mangalore, on Saturday said the abductors "slapped" her and no
fellow travellers came to her rescue.
Addressing media here, Shruti, a plus two student of St
Aloysius College in Mangalore, said she boarded a private bus
from Kasargode to Mangalore at 1615 hours last evening. As her
friend and brother of her classmate, Habeeb, entered the bus
from a nearby point, she casually asked him where he was
proceeding to. Later, he sat in a separate seat.
As the bus reached Pumpwell circle near Mangalore, a gang
of five persons, entered the bus and dragged both of them out
of the bus. Her plea for resistance went into deaf ears as the
bus conductor and fellow passengers stood mute spectators.
"No one came to my rescue. The bus conductor and the
fellow passengers did not resist the move by the activists,
who told us that they were taking us to the police station,"
she said.
"Soon, we were taken in an autorikshaw to an undisclosed
destination. As they began beating Habeeb apparently for
talking to me inside the bus, I pleaded them not to harass
him. Then they slapped me," she said.
Shruti added, "later they dropped me back at the Pumpwell
circle. I went to our family friend's house, which was nearby
and my father reached the place after I informed about the
incident."
Kunhambu told reporters that he would not force his daughter to
stay back in her college hostel in Mangalore.
The Karnataka police had reportedly arrested two persons
and about eight were taken into custody in connection with the
incident, he said.
Condemning the incident, the pro-CPI(M) Janathipathya
Mahila association in Kannur, urged Karnataka government to
take steps to prevent such incidents.
The kidnapping of the girl, who is the daughter of the
association's state member K P Sumati, "is highly atrocious
and an insult to a society based on human values and decent
friendship," association State Secretary K K Shylaja, MLA
said.
The association would organise protest march and meetings
in all district centres in the state to condemn the incident,
"which tends to foster communal hatred," she said.
The BJP government in Karnataka should be prepared to
rein in the activists of Sri Ram Sena, whom she accused of
acting behind yesterday's incident.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, February 07, 2009, 00:00