A group of five students, who were on a picnic, were threatened by a group of Hindu Jagrana Vedike (HJV) at Koteshwar village near Kundapur on Monday evening.
According to the Kundapur police, five students of a college from Udupi were on a trip to Byndoor, Trasi and Marvanthe on Monday. Of the five students, three were girls and two boys. Of the three girls, one belonged to majority community, while two others belonged to minority communities. The two boys belonged to a minority community. Also in the group were siblings belonging to a minority community.
The HJV activists, who came to know about the trip, waited for them at the overpass road at Koteshwar. The police, who noticed them, questioned them. The activists claimed that they had just returned from a volleyball match and were waiting to have tea, following which the police left the spot.
When the students reached the spot in a car later, the activists stopped the vehicle and stated questioning them. The police claimed they also threatened the students, which attracted a crowd.
The police, including the Kundapur Sub Inspector Naseer Hussain, who came to know about it, rushed to the spot. The police then escorted the five students in a police vehicle to the Kundapur police station.
At the police station, the Circle Police Inspector D.R. Manjappa enquired with the students and also with their parents over the telephone. The parents informed that the students had undertaken the trip with their permission. The students then said that they did not want to register a case and wanted to return to their homes. The police then escorted the students to their homes the same evening.
Meanwhile, Mr. Manjappa and other police staff took the HJV activists to task for their “moral policing”. But when the activists started arguing with them, the police registered a security case against eight activists of HJV, including Aravind Koteshwar, Ashok, Anil, Sampath and Rakesh.