Three allegedly assaulted for raising 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan in Bengaluru, four held

Three persons were allegedly assaulted here for raising "Jai Shri Ram" slogans on the occasion of Rama Navami, police said on Thursday.

Two men were arrested and two minors were apprehended in connection with Wednesday's incident at Chikkabettahalli here, they said.

All the accused are residents of MS Palya, police said.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje who is contesting from Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency, met the victims at their residence on Wednesday night and condemned the incident.

According to police, the incident happened when Pavan Kumar, Rahul and Binayak, residents of Sanjeevininagar, were going in their car towards MS Palya to check a second hand two-wheeler. They had a saffron flag and were shouting "Jai Shri Ram". Farman and Sameer riding a bike stopped them and Farman started questioning them why they were raising "Jai Shri Ram" slogans and that they should only say "Allahu Akbar".

Farman tried to snatch the flag. However, the victims chased him while Sameer rode away. Later, they returned to their car. The accused Sameer, Farman along with two minors came back and assaulted Pavan Kumar, Rahul and Binayak and left the spot, a senior police officer said.

"After our police team reached the spot, the victims were brought to the station and the injured were sent to hospital for treatment," the officer said.

Rahul was hit on the head with a stick and Binayak sustained an injury to nose bone, he added.

Based on a complaint received from Pavan, a case was registered by Vidyaranyapura police under IPC sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs); 298 (uttering, words, etc, with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings); 143 (unlawful assembly); 147 (punishment for rioting); 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace); 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means); 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt); 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed), police said.