Belagavi dispute back: Conductor assaulted for not speaking Marathi, bus services suspended

While Karnataka halted bus operations to Maharashtra from Belagavi, running services only up to its border at Koganolli checkpoint, Maharashtra ceased services to Karnataka, limiting its operations to Kagal taluk, the border area between the two states.

A Maharashtra bus driver was attacked and his face blackened in Chitradurga, Karnataka, on Saturday. In retaliation, workers of the Shiv Sena (UBT) in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur tied party flags on a Karnataka bus and painted it black at the Kolhapur central bus stand.

On Friday, three men were arrested and a minor girl was apprehended for allegedly assaulting a KSRTC bus conductor in Belagavi for not speaking Marathi. After the minor filed a counter-complaint alleging sexual harassment, the conductor was booked in a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case.

The incident took place at a village in Belagavi taluk Friday afternoon. KSRTC conductor Mahadev Hukkeri, 51, was allegedly assaulted after he got into an argument with two students who were returning home from college. He requested them to speak in Kannada, saying he did not understand Marathi. This led to an argument, following which he was allegedly assaulted.

Kannada organisations held protests Friday and marched to the village Saturday. In Chitradurga, members of the Karnataka Nava Nirman Sene blackened the face of a Maharashtra bus conductor and vandalised the windshield of the bus.

Hukkeri told the media that the argument took place while he was issuing tickets. “The majority of the passengers in the bus were women. I was distributing tickets. In Karnataka, bus rides are free for women. A woman sitting with a man asked for two free tickets. I gave her one and asked her who she wanted the second ticket for. She pointed to the man. I told them that in Karnataka, bus rides are not free for men. Then, they told me to speak in Marathi,” he said.

“I don’t know Marathi and asked them to speak to me in Kannada. Six-seven people inside the bus attacked me. Once the bus was stopped, there were around 50 people there. They also beat me up,” Hukkeri said. He is being treated for injuries at a hospital in Belagavi.

The police produced the alleged assailants before a judge at his residence Friday night. The judge ordered 14-day judicial custody for three men and sent the minor to a remand home.

Meanwhile, Belagavi Police Commissioner Ada Martin confirmed that the minor had filed a sexual harassment complaint against the conductor. “Based on the girl’s statement, we have registered a POCSO case against the conductor,” Martin said. The conductor was booked under Section 12 of the POCSO Act.

Raju Nashipudi, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike district president, Belagavi, said, “The conductor was doing his duty. Then a female student forced him to speak in Marathi and when the conductor said he did not know Marathi, the boys who were with the girl attacked him. Instead of giving justice to the conductor who was attacked, a case has been registered against him under the POCSO Act… We will protest outside the police station where the case has been registered.”

Belagavi has been at the centre of a long-standing territorial dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra and is home to a significant population of Marathi speakers.