Arrests – Journalists

Naveen Soorinje, 28, a Mangalore-based television journalist, was arrested for exposing an attack by an extremist cultural outfit called the Hindu Jagarana Vedike in July. As per local media reports, a mob from the Hindu Jagarana Vedike attacked a group of boys and girls who were celebrating a birthday party at a home-stay in Mangalore.

Soorinje was arrested in November and has been charged with multiple sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) including criminal conspiracy, using criminal force on a woman with the intention of outraging her modesty as well as sections of Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act. His application for bail was denied by the Bangalore High Court.The home-stay attack is a chilling reminder of Mangalore’s continuing clash with a violent brand of cultural extremism, first exposed in 2009 after the infamous pub attack in 2009 engineered by the Pramod Muthalik-led Sri Ram Sene.