Vittla: Journalist attacked by ABVP activists for reporting ice-cream parlour incident

Vittla, March 29: A freelance journalist was attacked by a group of Akhila Bharateeya Vidhyarti Parishad (ABVP) activists on Monday at Vittla in Bantwal taluk, allegedly for reporting a vigilante attack on students occurred there a couple of days ago.

Mohammed Ali, 23, a resident of Meginapete near Vittla, who is pursuing a BA degree at the Government First Grade College, Vittla, was hospitalised after being beaten up by his college mates.

He was hit on the stomach and the back. “The attackers had cricket stumps and bats in their hands” Ali, who is recovering at government hospital in Vittla, said.

He said that he had left the principal's office when he was approached by a student who wanted to have a word with him. The student led him to a lane away from the college building, where around 10 students, all of them known to him, beat him up. “Before they hit me, they threatened to chop off my hand for reporting the incident,” he said.

“As a reporter, I have done my duty. Other scribes too had reported the issue. But, they targeted me” he said.

Vigilante attack

Ali said that he had been eyewitness to the vigilante attack on seven students of his own college outside an ice-cream parlour in Vittla. Two Hindu boys, two Muslim boys, a Christian boy and two Hindu girls were having ice-cream when the miscreants arrived on the scene and began to question the girls about “being with Muslim boys”, Ali explained.

Complaint to IGP:

Following the incident of attack on the scribe, the members of DK Working Journalists' Union on Monday submitted a memorandum to Inspector General of Police (Western Range) Alok Mohan at his office in Mangalore, demanding appropriate action against the culprits.

The journalists also expressed frustration over the inactiveness of police, who failed to arrest the accused, who visited Vittla police station to lodge a counter complaint even though the attacked scribe had lodged a complaint against them. The IGP assured to take appropriate action after conducting a fair inquiry into the issue.