Mangalore Pub attack: Cops may invoke Goonda Act

According to the state police chief,attackers will be booked on charges of criminal trespassing,assault on women,rioting inside the premises,criminal conspiracy. The police say that they are exploring the possibility of invoking a stringent local Goonda Act against the identified attackers. The Goonda Act was established to curb rowdy elements involved in activities like extortion.

“Investigations are on. Further action will be taken after checking antecedents of the arrested. We have arrested 27 out of the 30 people said to be involved in the attacks,” the police chief said.

Two batches of accused persons have already been produced in the court,including Prasad Attavar,the Mangalore-based vice-president of the Sene who was among the first to announce responsibility for the attack.

Attavar was remanded to judicial custody till February 10 after he was produced in a court on Tuesday evening. Local reports said he had been booked for criminal conspiracy.

A third batch of accused persons is expected to be produced in the court on Wednesday.

The Sri Rama Sene president Pramod Muttalik,despite being arrested on Tuesday,is unlikely to be charged in the case. He has been booked for inciting violence through the distribution of inflammatory material in another district,Davangere,on January 11.

Another key Sene activist and the legal advisor to the group,Dinakar Shetty,who is believed to have actually led the pub attackers,has not been arrested and has even managed to obtain an anticipatory bail.

The police have issued notices to media agencies that covered the attack after being invited by the Sri Rama Sene activists.

Local police claim that the pub was allowing dancing despite not being licensed to do so. A key question being asked is why the police in Mangalore was unaware of the “unauthorised activity” if the Sri Rama Sene could be aware of it.