Four people were arrested after a bus driver and conductor were attacked in Belagavi, Karnataka
Belagavi: Police stated on Saturday that they had received a complaint from the ladies’ side as well, who claimed that the conductor had made offensive statements about them. This comes after four individuals were detained after an assault on a bus driver and conductor in Belagavi, Karnataka.
According to a complaint that was received, the victim said that he was attacked by a gang of four to five persons who argued with him on a bus over a language barrier, Belagavi Commissioner Lada Martin Marbaniang told the media report.
Due to the conductor’s inability to communicate in Marathi, a boy and girl who had boarded the semi-urban CBT-Sulebhavi bus reportedly threatened him. They then allegedly phoned their accomplices, who then attacked them at Balekundri.
“The passengers spoke various languages, and the bus conductor spoke different ones. Four persons have already been arrested in connection with the allegation, and the police are continuing their investigation. We want to know whether there are any more individuals engaged. “An action has already been taken and the case has been registered,” Marbaniang said.
“The girl has also filed a complaint, alleging that the bus conductor threatened her and made other offensive comments during the altercation. Thus, in accordance with her complaint, the case has also been filed,” the police commissioner said.
According to Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, the police responded to the situation quickly.
“The offender was placed under 14 days of judicial detention by the court after the police initiated action. The law will act. “Police responded quickly,” Reddy added.
Whatever has occurred is incorrect, according to NA Haris, a Congress MLA and the chairman of the KSRTC.
“Everyone in the area needs to attempt speaking Kannada. The person requesting you to do something shouldn’t be attacked if you don’t know it. That’s unfair. They have been taken into custody by the authorities. It is unacceptable; therefore, we won’t spare them,” Haris said.
The KSRTC conductor who was attacked, Mahadev Hukkeri, said that after the altercation, six or seven individuals attacked him in the vehicle.
“I was distributing tickets to a woman and a man who were sitting in the bus. In Karnataka, women are entitled to free bus rides. The woman asked for two free tickets, so I gave her one and asked, ‘For whom do you want the second ticket?’ She pointed to the man. However, I informed them that males are not entitled to free bus rides in Karnataka.
I begged them to talk to me in Kannada as I don’t know Marathi, and then six or seven individuals on the bus attacked me. The conductor said that around fifty individuals were there when the vehicle was halted, and they also assaulted him. After the argument, protests also broke out in the region.
According to Raju Nashipudi, the district president of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike in Belagavi, a complaint has been filed against the conductor under the POCSO Act rather than providing him with justice.
“The conductor was carrying out his duties when the tragedy in Belagavi occurred. He was then made to speak in Marathi by a female student, and the lads who were accompanying the girl beat him when the conductor claimed he didn’t know the language. We will demonstrate outside the police station where the case has been filed, he told the media report, “instead of providing justice to the conductor who was attacked, a case has been filed against him under the POCSO act.”
