Karnataka Hindutva men assault Christian youth, police arrest survivor not attackers

A group of Hindutva activists belonging to Bajrang Dal assaulted a Christian youth for distributing booklets related to Christianity in a college campus in Karnataka’s Hassan on Thursday.

The video clip of the assault has gone viral on social media.

Though police didn’t take action against Hindutva activists, a case has been registered against the hate crime survivor on the charge of intending to outrage religious feelings (Section 295 of IPC) based on a complaint by Police Sub-Inspector Sathish Kumar.

#BajrangDal members thrash a person named Manu for distributing leaflets about #Christian faith near college campus in #hassan. They objected to him distributing the leaflets & assaulted him before handing him over to cops. Manu has been arrested & fir under 295A regd #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/Bo2xrjkCQc

— Imran Khan (@KeypadGuerilla) March 17, 2022

The video clip showed a saffron activist slapping Christian youth Manu while the assailants were scolding him. He was carrying a few copies of a booklet on “Yesu Swamy”, both in Kannada and Urdu.

Manu, who suffered injuries, is undergoing treatment in a hospital.

Reports say Manu is expected to file a complaint against the people who assaulted him.

Karnataka has seen a rise in attacks against Christians since the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enacted the anti-conversion law in the state.