Udupi: Amid allegedly carrying ‘Lethal Weapons’ during protests at government college two have been arrested from Kundapur in Karnataka’s Udupi district. The students are protesting over their right to wear ‘Hijab’ to college.
One of the accused is a repeat offender. They have been charged with attempted homicide, rioting with a deadly weapon, and criminal conspiracy. They were a part of a group of five people, roaming around the protest site, and are not believed to be part of student’s agitation.
ST Siddalingappa, the Additional SP of Udupi Police, told news agency ANI, that two of them have been arrested and three are absconding. They are trying to trace them. The accused had one knife and were not locals. They are from Gangolli. They have been sent to judicial custody. The case is under investigation.
Speaking with NDTV news, police told that one of the accused is from a nearby village. Police also said they were searching for the other three accused. It is unclear at this time if they have any political affiliations.
As Kundapur Police received information, they started acting on the matter. They reached the protest site and arrested the two accused. The other three managed to flee from the spot. The arrested duo are Rajab, 41, and Abdul Majid, 32, who has seven cases registered against him. Cases against both were filed at the police station in Gangolli village near Kundapur town.
Over the past week protests by college students in the district over their right to wear a hijab have grown, as have counter-agitations led, ominously, by other students wearing saffron scarves.
On Saturday videos from a protest site in Kundapur showed some students wearing the scarves over their college uniforms and shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ while going to college. Other videos showed police breaking up groups of saffron-clad protestors gathered near a market area and shouting slogans.
This was on the same day that 40 female students – wearing the hijab – protested at the gates of an arts and science college in Kundapur. College staff refused to let the girls inside the campus.
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