MANGALURU (Web Desk) – A 20-year-old Muslim boy was badly beaten up allegedly by the ‘moral police’ in India’s southern state Mangaluru for posing in a picture with his Hindu female classmates.
The image, which went viral on Whatsapp, shows Muhammad Riyaz, a college student, lying on the laps of five classmates and another male student sitting behind them.
Riyaz was hunted down by a gang of locals in Mangalore, driven to an isolated location and badly beaten, before being driven back, according to The Indian Express.
“After the photograph was circulated on social media sites, a vigilante group got other students from the college to identify the deviant youth and on learning that he was probably a Muslim, decided to attack him,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Ravi Kumar told The Indian Express.
The computer science student has been admitted to a private hospital in the city.
Riyaz said he was “kidnapped” near his house when he was with his friends. The men blindfolded him and took him to an isolated location where they beat him with wooden sticks. Further, he said they asked him if he was Muslim and wanted to know why he took a photo with Hindu girls.
Riyaz’s father has registered a complaint with the police, who have filed a case of abduction and attempt to murder.
