Two Kashmiri brothers beaten up for not speaking in Kannada

Bengaluru: In a shocking incident, two Kashmiri brothers were beaten up by a gang of drunk men allegedly for not replying to them in Kannada.

Two of the 10 accused were arrested by the police within 30 minutes of the incident even before a written complaint was filed by the victims, students of a hotel management course in the city.

The incident took place last week, but came to light only on Monday.

One of the victims, Lisan Ahmed, said that three bike-borne men approached them late on Monday night, while they had parked their car on the roadside near the NTI bus stand at NTI Layout in Sanjaynagar to attend a phone call.

Ahmed told this newspaper that the men, who were heavily drunk, asked them something in Kannada which they couldn’t understand. When the victims told the accused that they couldn’t speak or understand Kannada, the accused allegedly insisted that they speak the language. “I didn’t understand what he was saying, and told him that we were students and did not understand Kannada. Then they called up a few more people and they all started beating us mercilessly. They even damaged our car. There were around 10 people and most of them were drunk,” Ahmed told this newspaper. As the accused were leaving the spot, Ahmed’s elder brother dialled 100 and informed the police about the incident. The police arrived at the spot in no time and took the victims to a nearby hospital for treatment. “I highly appreciate the Bengaluru police who not only caught the accused within 30 minutes, but also took care of us just like friends do. They took us to a hospital for treatment,” Ahmed said. The arrested accused, Mahesh, a fashion designer, and Harish, a driver, were booked under sections 324(causing hurt by dangerous weapons), 341 (wrongful restraint) 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the IPC.