Hubballi man assaulted over alleged ‘love jihad’, police cite family feud

HUBBALLI: Alleging an attempted ‘love jihad', Hindu activists handed a gym trainer in Vijayanagar here over to the police, claiming atrocities by him against a woman he knew.It was alleged that the trainer, Sameer Mulla, was assaulted before he was handed over to the cops. While the woman's family has filed a case of sexual harassment, Mulla's kin have filed a case of kidnapping. Hindu activists, meanwhile, have filed a separate case, citing ‘love jihad'. Police, though, denied the ‘love jihad' angle, asserting it was a family feud. According to reports, a 20-year-old woman was introduced to Sameer by his elder sister Taiseem Mulla. "Later, he invited me to birthday and weekend parties. As I got closer to him, he took me to his residence once and offered some juice laced with drugs. Once I fell unconscious, he raped me. He made a video recording of the act and continued to blackmail me," the complainant woman said. As Hindu activists came to know about the incident and the video clip, they rushed to Mulla's house and took him to Old Hubballi police station after assaulting him. Believing that the perpetrators were from the aggrieved woman's family, Mulla's associates rushed to the woman's house in Vikas Nagar and assaulted her family members. They also demanded that Mulla be released from custody immediately. The woman's mother said: "He [Mullla] was harassing my daughter for the past few days. They even tried to set fire to our house." However, Mulla's sister claimed the woman was in a relationship with her brother for the past three years. "They had filmed their intimate moments. We do not have any intention to enforce ‘love jihad' as we respect all religions," she said. "A large group of people came to our house and took my brother away. We were clueless about the whereabouts of Sameer for two hours. Later, we were informed that he was admitted to KMC RI Hospital after he suffered injuries from an assault," Taiseem added. Police commissioner N Shashikumar clarified this was not a case of ‘love jihad' and that clashes occurred between two families over a personal dispute. "We protected the youth who was assaulted by some unknown people. We are pursuing a criminal case," Shahsikumar explained.