Seven men were arrested and two minors apprehended in a case of moral policing in which they allegedly assaulted two cousins whom they mistook to be an interfaith couple, in Belagavi, police said on Thursday.

The incident took place last Saturday, January 6, two days before another instance of moral policing happened in Haveri, about 170 km away.

According to the police, the victims who are in their 20s were sitting at Fort Lake here and having a conversation when a gang of men, including minors, arrived. Assuming that they were a couple in an interfaith relationship, the gang allegedly took the two persons to a room near the lake and assaulted them with pipes.

The woman, who is a graduate, had visited her college to collect some documents. She was told to wait till 3.30 pm, so her cousin joined her and they were waiting at fort lake.

She was wearing hijab while the boy sported a tilak. Assuming that they were a couple, the accused assaulted them. Despite the victims telling the gang that they were cousins, they were not spared, a senior police officer said.

The girl's mother is a Hindu and her father is a Muslim. The girl's mother and the boy's mother are sisters, he said.

After the incident, the gang fled the spot. Meanwhile, the boy told his parents who immediately informed the police who then reached the spot, the officer said.

In the attack, the boy sustained serious injuries. He was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. He is said to be out of danger, he added.

As per the complaint, there were 17 people involved in the incident. Three among them have been named in the FIR. However, to check the movement of people and ascertain the sequence of events, when the CCTV cameras of the nearby areas of the scene of crime was checked, the involvement of only 10 people could be established, the officer said.

"Out of the 10 people, we have arrested seven and apprehended two minors. One of the accused is still absconding and our teams are trying to trace him. All the accused belonged to the minority community," he added.

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