Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (MB)
Mangalore, Jan 12: A fast-track court in the district has acquitted all 17 persons accused in the case relating to assault on a bus at Pumpwell in the city two years ago.
The court had examined 25 eyewitnesses and has ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges against the accused.
It may be recalled that two years ago, the staff of a well-known business establishment in the city, along with the family members, had planned a picnic to Mysore. On the pretext that women of a certain community were travelling with men of another community, a group of Bajrang Dal members had assaulted the passengers which included women and caused heavy damage to the bus.
The appeals from the women that it was in a spirit of brotherhood that they were travelling together like the past years were disregarded by the assailants. There were also reports in local newspapers that some amounts of cash and mobile phones had gone missing in the melee.
The episode had evoked a strong reaction at the state-level and the matter had also been raised in the state legislative assembly.
The Kankanady rural police had filed a chargesheet and investigated the case.