Mangalore pub attack granted bail to all the 27 accused

31-01-09 After National Issue of the Mangalore pub attack where girls were beaten up by a fringe group called Ram Sene, a local court granted bail to Pramod Mutalik, Prasad Attavar and all the 27 accused arrested in the case.

There was another shocker by the National Commission of Women, which pointed fingers at the girls who were beaten and the pub.

Blaming security lapses in the Mangalore pub incident, the NCW said on Friday that it will recommend cancellation of license of the restaurant as it was supposed to serve only food to guests.

The Karnataka Police had earlier produced the members of Sri Ram Sena in a local court on Wednesday.

The attack was carried out by members of the Sri Ram Sene on Sunday, who said they had received complaints from the public about the presence of young women.

The five or six women in the pub were chased out and hit by the self-appointed moral police. Members of the Sri Ram Sene have justified their actions.

The police have made ten arrests in the case - charging the men with criminal assault, intimidation, outrage of modesty and criminal trespass.

This is sadly not an isolated incident of groups taking the law into their own hands. Churches and prayer halls around Mangalore were attacked just a few months ago over alleged conversions. In Bangalore, rave parties on the outskirts of the city were raided - not by police - but by members of the Kannada Rakshana Vedike.

A state that once had a strong image of peace and tolerance seems to be heading in a very different direction now.

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