50 KRV activists chase, thrash techie for speaking in English

Bengaluru, Dec 17: In an apparent case of linguistic chauvinism, a 36-year-old software engineer was chased and allegedly beaten up by a mob of 50 Karnataka Rakshana Vedhike (KRV) activists - because the victim, J Daniel, spoke in English while trying to broker peace between the mob and an event organiser who was playing non-Kannada music at Swami Vivekananda Road metro station on Old Madras Road last Saturday at around 9 pm.

Daniel and his friends were eating at a food festival organised there when the accused raised objection to the event organisers speaking in English. They also objected to English advertisement boards at the station.

When Daniel intervened to broker peace between the event organiser and the KRV mob, one of the activists, Manjunath, allegedly assaulted him for speaking English, beating him on his back and head.

In retaliation, the techie is alleged to have beaten up Manjunath.

That's when the entire mob pounced on him. They chased Daniel and allegedly beat him up. They even tied up his hands behind his back and removed his shirt in public before resuming to beat him up.

He started bleeding through his nose; despite it, the activists continued beating him. The gang even tried to remove the victim's pants and the entire incident happened in full public view.

Luckily for Daniel, a resident of New Byappanahalli, a passing police patrol came to his rescue. "Our patrolling vehicle which was passing by the area saw the victim being attacked and immediately rushed to his rescue. The victim has claimed he regrets being in Bengaluru although he is staying here for the last 10 years. The victim and the said Manjunath and his group were taken into custody by the Byappanahalli police," said an officer on part of the investigations.

A complaint and a counter-complaint have been registered by Daniel and the KRV mob.

"I was shocked after I was beaten for talking in English. It is my wish! I can talk in any language I want to. Nobody has the right to attack others for not speaking in a language which they do not understand. Angry on receiving the blows, even I retaliated and beat up the activist. He then called his group and about 50 of them started beating me up. I do not want to add fuel to the incident; all I wanted was to stop them from arguing with the organisers," Daniel told Bangalore Mirror.

In his counter-complaint, Manjunath has alleged that Daniel attacked him with a helmet for raising objections to playing non-Kannada songs with obscene dances.

Manjunath has told police that he was returning home in KR Puram last Saturday after attending a KRV meeting. While passing in front of the metro station, he saw an event where English music was played. Being a pro-Kannada activist, he objected to it and was beaten up by Daniel, he alleged.

He has further claimed that he had to rest for almost 10 minutes after being attacked.

“The complaints of both Daniel and Manjunath have been registered. The investigations are on to ascertain who took law into their hands as nobody has the right to beat

The police have booked a case against Daniel under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 324 which pertains to voluntarily causing hurt by using dangerous weapons and section 504 which pertains causing insult with intent to provoke breach of peace. A case of wrongful restraint (IPC 341) and voluntarily causing hurt (IPC 323) has been registered against Manjunath and the mob.