Shocking Taliban style 'moral police" attack in Indian city of Mangalore

"Taliban" in Afghanistan and in some parts of Pakistan are infamous for the kind of behavior which occurred in Mangalore, the educational hub in South Karnataka, a couple of days before the observation of Republic Day of “Mera Bharat Mahan” India.

In the name of upholding the “culture” of India, more than 40 people belonging to a particular nationalist party attacked, dragged, molested and beat up girls and women who were having lunch at the ‘Amnesia” pub in the centre of Mangalore, the city in the South Indian state of Karnataka, whose colleges attract international students.

Walking into the “Amnesia” pub today 24 hours after the attack, I found that there was no physical evidence of violence except that the usually bustling place was empty and the staff was in a sombre mood.

Asked to confirm if an incident of attack on women customers took place there yesterday, Krishna, the waiter attending nodded in affirmative but had a blank look when asked to elaborate.

According to another staff member who did not want to be identified, confided that it all started around 4 p.m. when dozens of men entered the premises and demanded to know what was going on. Soon they started manhandling and assaulting women customers, physically beating them. The men who were with their partners or friends were not spared when they tried to protest and were beaten up.

Today the TV footage repeatedly showed girls falling and being shoved around and beaten openly. Even with all that evidence available against more than 40 men there were no reports of wide-spread arrests or official confirmation of the incident by the police.

In another shameful act that followed, there was the TV footage showing today one of the leaders of “Sriram Sena” claiming responsibility saying it was a “spontaneous reaction against women who flouted traditional Indian norms of decency.”

As if not to be outdone, another right-wing nationalist Hindu outfit, the Bajarang Dal also claimed responsibility and insisted that the attack was carried out by his outfit.

There was talk of the political games in the name of saving culture (define it) and brutal Taliban style attacks on young persons as attack happened during lunch period with two women in hospital and Sriram Sena goes on air to defend the Taliban style attack