Mangalore, Jan 31: In a bid to put an end to the controversy following Wednesday's Bajrang Dal raid on an ice-cream parlour in the city, Mangalore police have said that the students had been taken to the station only for security reasons.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Jagannath, who reportedly questioned the students at the station, clarified that none among the four girls and three boys was minor and no case was booked against them as they were not engaged in any illegal activities.
When contacted, Commissioner of Police Manish Karbikar said the police had rushed to the spot only to defuse the situation. “As smoking on the terrace was not an offence, the police have not booked any case,” he said
At the police station, the vigilantes, who said they were from the Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini, told reporters there were complaints from neighbours that young people smoked cannabis at the lounge.
A constable who accompanied the vigilantes said a Bajrang Dal activist had called the police station about “immoral activities on the terrace”. He said that of the seven young people, three were found smoking while the rest were having soft drinks.
The students were made to wait for 45 minutes at the station before being sent away.
According to the manager of Roxx, on Attavar Main Road, where the incident occurred, some 10 Bajrang Dal activists, with two policemen in tow, marched up to the smoking area on the open terrace leading from second floor where the four girls and three boys were, around 5.30 p.m., and asked them to come to the police station for their “immoral” and “uncultured” behaviour. When the young group protested, one of the intruders used foul language against a girl, the manager said, adding that the group were regulars there.
The managing director of the Roxx, clarified that it's a mere an ice-cream parlour, a family joint, a clean place… there is no liquor, nothing of that sort.” He said he was surprised and saddened by the incident. “We don't know why they had to do that.”
He said he would not take any action or follow up with the police and he didn't “want to make it an issue”.
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