Members of a right-wing Hindu group allegedly barged into the house of a Dalit family, hurled abuses at them and assaulted them alleging religious conversion.
The incident took place on 29 December in the Tukkanatti area of Gokak in Karnataka’s Belagavi district.
Seven of the attackers have been identified and booked under the SC and ST (Prevention of atrocities) Act and some provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
Akshay Kumar Karaganvi, a pastor, was organizing annual prayers at his residence when members of a right-wing outfit entered his house and interrupted the prayers.
The assailants allegedly called women of the Karaganavi family and their cousins ‘professional sex workers’ and the men as children of ‘professional sex workers’. They beat up Akshay and his nephew Sudhakar Vyapari.