Moral Police: Government’s inaction blamed for Padil attack

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, July 31, 2012: President of district unit of Mahila Congress Veronica Carnelio Monday blamed the inaction of the State Government for vigilante groups having a free run in Mangalore.

Addressing presspersons here, Ms. Carnelio said that the State Government did not take stringent action against the activists of Sri Rama Sene, who had barged into a pub in Mangalore and beat up young men and women in 2009. This had emboldened the activists of other vigilante groups.

The assault by the activists allegedly belonging to the Hindu Jagarana Vedike on a group of students celebrating a birthday party at a homestay in Mangalore on Saturday was a direct result of the laxity shown to the perpetrators of the previous attack.

The Mahila Congress was totally against moral policing. The responsibility of taking care of their children lay with the parents. Nobody had delegated this responsibility to the vigilante groups. The behaviour of the activists with the girls at the homestay was totally disgusting. “Do these vigilante groups which speak of Hindu culture at the drop of a hat have any morality at all?” she asked.

Ms. Carnelio said that it was the BJP Government which had permitted a “rave party” in the name of a music festival at the St. Mary’s Island near Malpe in February, this year. Open sex and free availability of narcotics marked this festival. But none of the vigilante groups ever protested against it.

The members of the Udupi Assembly Constituency unit of Youth Congress staged a dharna near the Service Bus Stand and conducted a “rasta roko” condemning the attack.

Courtesy: The Hindu