Udupi washroom video row: 14 BJP workers booked for trying to picket Karnataka Home Minister's house

Bengaluru: As many as 14 BJP workers have been booked on Friday for trying to picket the house of Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara to protest against the alleged filming of a girl student in a private college in Udupi.

The protest was held by BJP activists on Thursday.

The Malpe police are conducting an investigation into the case, and three mobile phones of the accused girls have been seized and sent for forensic examination.

Until the data available in the seized mobile phones are not examined, it would be inappropriate to jump into any conclusions in the case, Khushbhu Sundar, a member of National Commission of Women, told reporters yesterday.

She was in the temple town of Udupi to investigate the case. The Malpe police filed a suo motu case and registered an FIR on July 26 against the three para medical students - Shabnaaz, Alfiya, and Aleema - under IPC sections 509, 204,175, and 34 among others.

The trio was granted bail by the Udupi District Court today.

Expressing their ire against Siddaramaiah government's handling of the case, a large group of BJP workers today raised slogans and carried placards demanding a free and fair investigation by a central agency.

Udupi MLA Yashpal Suvarna suspected involvement of women's wing of the banned PFI.

Earlier, Parameshwara had referred to the Udupi filming case as a small incident blown out of proportion and also questioned whether it was as serious as the Manipur incident where the girls were made to march naked and allegedly gangraped.

He stated that several such incidents had taken place in the past, but nobody politicised the same.

These remarks sparked state-wide outrage with many courting doubts on the intention of the government to take action against the accused girls.

The BJP accused the police by saying that instead of taking immediate action against the culprits, it reached the house of a human rights activist who had whistle-blowed the filming episode.

Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai also condemned the Home Minister's reluctant attitude towards the matter. "If that was a small case, then why an FIR was registered and what about the confessional letter by the accused girls? Why were those girls suspended? He (Parameshwara) should answer these questions," he stated. (UNI)