Mangaluru, Jan 11: On Tuesday January 9, a 20-year-old girl filed a complaint at the cyber crime cell of Mangaluru city police, after religious vigilante groups circulated her picture along with a male companion from another religion on social media platforms.
For days, the picture of Madhuri Bolar along with her friends - one being a Muslim was making rounds on certain WhatsApp groups. The picture was accompanied by a message in Kannada 'Hamza Kinya is roaming around on bike with our Hindu girls in broad daylight...If he is further seen roaming around with Hindu girls, Hindu organisations must reply to him (act on him)' the message read.
Madhuri says that the out-of-context image and message came to her as a rude shock. "The selfie is almost a year old, when all of us were travelling in a bus to a camp. The picture that is making rounds has Suhas Adiga and Ganesh Bolar as well. However, the rumour mongers have targeted only me and Hamza," Madhuri, who is also the district secretary of Student Federation of India (SFI) said.
"Being the office bearer of SFI and Hamza being the joint secretary of district SFI, we along with others are required to go on such camps. They are trying to malign our image with baseless allegations as their other smear campaigns against us have failed," she alleges.
Madhuri in her complaint has identified atleast six WhatsApp groups and its users and has named two boys and girl - who were spreading misleading information and causing her psychological trauma.
Madhuri’s mother Bharathi Bolar, who accompanied her daughter while filing the complaint says she will support her daughter and feels that it’s high time the religious vigilantism should stop. Speaking to media, she said this is not the first instance when teenagers in the DK district have been harassed by religious vigilante groups. On Sunday, a girl from Mudigere also committed suicide due to moral policing. The police should take strict action against the perpetrators, Bharati stressed.
A member of CPM-affiliated Beedi workers' organisation, Bharati also suggested that parents must stand by their children if they are victims of such harassment.
Police commissioners T R Suresh has forwarded Madhuri’s complaint to city's cyber crime cell. The case has been registered at Pandeshwar police station limits.
Last week, a minor girl was targeted at the district administration run Pilikula Nisargadhama, after she was spotted in a picnic group that included a male from another religion.
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For Daijiworld.com