With cuts and bruises on his body, Jayaram Poojary (24) is unable to grasp the reason for the vicious assault that has landed him in hospital. Four days after the incident, his eyes are murky and his mother Leela Poojary is exhausted because of sleepless nights.
The victim told The Hindu that a group of persons targeted him allegedly because he talked to women. “They [the assaulters] kept asking me why I should talk to women from their community.”
On Saturday, around 6 p.m., Mr. Poojary, a resident of Salethur in Puttur taluk who works as a truck driver for a stone quarry company, had taken a bus to Gadiyara village, Bantwal taluk, to collect payment for brick supplies. As he walked from the bus stop towards the village, he met two women, whom he knew, and within a few minutes nearly 40 people attacked him.
The victim said it was clear in their shouts and insults that the assaulters were targeting him for talking to a woman. “I was hit on the head with a rod. They must have thought I was dead.” It was only a day later that he recovered consciousness in Government Wenlock Hospital in the city.
Based on his complaint, the Puttur Town Police have arrested four persons on Monday, while they are on the look out for three more persons.
