Conductor assault over Marathi halts Maha-K'taka bus services

4 persons, including a minor held; victim admitted to hosp with internal injuries

- Hirekop Rajan Samuel

BELAGAVI: A dispute over language on the outskirts of Belagavi on Friday snowballed into a major controversy on Saturday with three people being arrested and a minor being apprehended for allegedly assaulting and throwing ink at the bus conductor for not speaking in Marathi; the injured bus conductor being booked in a POCSO case; and suspension of interstate bus services between Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The incident occurred on Friday in the Chikka Balekundri village in Belagavi district, on the border of Maharashtra and Karnataka, when a 17-year-old girl who boarded the state-owned transport corporation bus with her male friend at Sulebhavi village spoke in Marathi.

The bus conductor, Mahadevappa Mallappa Hukkeri, 51, told the girl that he did not know Marathi and asked her to speak in Kannada. "When I said I don't know Marathi, the girl abused me saying that I must learn Marathi. Suddenly a large number of people gathered and assaulted me," the conductor told reporters on Saturday.