Mohan Kuthar
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Aug 22: A man who objected to three men sitting with women on the front seats of the bus was allegedly thrashed by a group at Ullal near here on Firday August 21. Following the incident, the Ullal police arrested a conductor of another bus, who was allegedly part of the group.

In protest against the Ullal police, buses plying on Mangaluru-Eliyarpadavu route came to a complete halt on Saturday August 22, causing much inconvenience to passengers.

It is said that on Friday August 21, three bus employees were sitting on the long seat next to the bus driver in the 'Bayar' bus plying from Eliyarpadavu to Mangaluru. Two women were also seated there. A person named Naveen Kumar of Amblamogaru who was on the same bus complained to the bus conductor alleging that the three bus employees were harassing the women. The conductor then made the three men get up and made them sit at the rear end of the bus.

Out of grudge against Naveen, the three men, one of them identified as Rizwan, on Saturday gathered some persons from Amblamogaru and allegedly assaulted Naveen, who later filed a complaint in Ullal police station. Among those named in the complaint were Imran, Ansar, Shareef, Rizwan and Ameer.

Based on the complaint, Ullal police then took into custody Ansar and Junaid, who work as conductor and driver respectively for 'Ashwini' bus plying on Mangaluru-Eliyarpadavu route.

Following the police action, buses on this route held a flash strike, condemning the fact that police took the two into custody during their duty hours. Students, office-goers and the general public were put to much inconvenience. The locals lamented that even after hours of the bus strike, the police did not come to the spot to resolve the issue.