Woman injured in stone pelting as Congress protest turns violent in Mangaluru

A 60-year-old woman was injured and some vehicles were damaged in stone pelting when the Congress protest against Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot turned violent at Lalbagh in Mangaluru on Monday.

A 60-year-old woman was injured and some vehicles were damaged in stone pelting when the Congress protest against Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot turned violent at Lalbagh in Mangaluru on Monday.

The injured woman, who was travelling in a bus plying between Jokatte and State Bank of India bus terminus, was identified as Maimuna, a resident of Jokatte. She told The Hindu: “A glass piece hit my left eye when stones were hurled. I was standing near the driver. There is pain in opening the eye.” She was treated at a nearby private eye hospital later.

The bus was stoned in front of Mangaluru City Corporation office. The police arrested three persons in connection with pelting stones on the bus bearing registration number KA 19 C 7266.

In a release, the police gave the names of the arrested as Shahul Hameed, Anwar, and Kishore Shetty. The Barke police booked them under Sections 126 (2), 324 (4), 118 (1) read with Section 190 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The police said about 15 miscreants obstructed the bus and pelted stones at it causing damage to the windshield.

The workers also set a tyre ablaze at Lalbagh during the protest. Stones were pelted and the tyre was set ablaze in the noon after Ivan D’Souza, MLC, ended his speech by stating that the Congress will launch a “Bangladesh type” agitation to force the Governor to vacate the seat. The workers sat across the M. G. Road at Lalbagh and abruptly stopped the flow of traffic. They raised slogans “Gehlot Go Back”.

“Some Congress workers targeted my bus by throwing stones,” said the driver of the bus. He questioned the Congress workers for damaging the bus.

Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal told reporters that it was unfortunate that a peaceful protest march turned violent following action by some Congress workers.