Five youths, including a minor, were arrested in Mangalore on Friday after they harassed a group of students at the Someshwar beach in the coastal Karnataka city in a suspected case of moral policing.

Mangalore police commissioner Kuldeep Kumar Jain told reporters that the Ullal police station had lodged an FIR citing IPC sections 146 (rioting) and 307 (any act that could cause death) while a hunt was on for an unknown number of accomplices.

The accused had confronted three boys and three girls, all hailing from Kerala and students of a paramedical college in Mangalore, around 7.20pm on Thursday at the Someshwar beach in Ullal and asked them about their religion. Upon realising that the boys were Muslim and the girls Hindu, they assaulted the male students.

Jain said the police shifted the victims to a nearby hospital where they were treated for minor injuries.

The officer said those arrested, all suspected to be Hindu Right-wing activists, had been identified as Yathish, Sachin, Suhen, Akhil and the unnamed minor. He said three police teams had been formed to trace their absconding accomplices.

The coastal Karnataka districts of Dakshina Kannada, of which Mangalore is the headquarters, and Udupi have for several years been the hub of moral policing activities.

Hindu and Muslim Right-wing groups have often targeted interfaith couples seen together at cinemas, parks, beaches, riding in their vehicles or in public transport.

RSS arrest

The police arrested an RSS worker identified as Raju Tambak at Lingasugur in Raichur district in the north of the state for posting. an objectionable comment about Muslim women on social media.

Muslim men and women had protested outside the Lingasugur police station on Thursday and given a 24-hour deadline to arrest Tambak, who had likened Muslim women to machines that make children.

He has been booked for hurting religious sentiments.

The Congress government had directed the police not to tolerate even a single incident of moral policing or hate speech.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar had warned police officers of stringent action if they failed to act against communal elements and anyone creating disharmony in the state.

The police had recently booked two BJP lawmakers for hate speech.