Four Arrested for Assaulting Bus Conductor in Belagavi

When I said I don't know Marathi, the girl abused me saying that I must learn it. Suddenly a large number of people gathered and assaulted me Mahadevapp Mallappa Hukkeri, Bus conductor

- Press Trust of India

BELAGAVI: Four people have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a conductor of the state-owned transport corporation bus for not replying to a passenger in Marathi, police said on Saturday.

The incident occurred on Friday on the outskirts of the district headquarters town of Belagavi bordering Maharashtra, they said.

The conductor has also been booked under the Pocso Act, police said. The 51-year-old conductor Mahadevappa Mallappa Hukkeri on Friday told reporters that a girl who boarded the bus with her male friend at Sulebhavi village spoke in Marathi. Hukkeri said he told her 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 said.

The injured bus conductor was admitted to the Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences, police said adding he got minor injuries and is out of danger.