Teenagers pelt stones at Panchayat members house

NT Correspondent

Belagavi: Tensions prevailed in Belagavi district after a group of teenagers pelted stones at houses of Panchayat members in Navage village in the wee hours of Monday.

The teenagers, around 30 in number, were mostly high school and pre-university students.

They were allegedly angry at Panchayat members for advising them on “how to behave as students”.

As many as four houses of former and current Panchayat members were pelted with stones by a mob of more than a couple of dozen young men who eyewitnesses claimed wielded sticks, swords and other weapons.

The mob reportedly left for Goa on motorcycles after their assault. Three of the accused persons are said to have been traced by Belagavi police.

Some of the accused studying pre-university had been advised by Panchayat members against courting high school girls from the neighbouring Karle village, which triggered a violent reaction according to one of the Panchayat members Maruti Hurakadli.

Women and Child Development Minister and local Belagavi Rural MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar visited the spot and conversed with the Panchayat members.

She said that tensions escalated after some youth had fought with each other on New Year’s Eve. She added that local cops had taken measures to calm tensions.

“Both villages come under my constituency. They’re extremely innocent people over here. I was surprised to see that violence had erupted here. So I canceled some of my programmes and made my way here. I impressed upon them that they’re all our people. Some of the boys fought with each other on December 31. They had come to blows during the New Year’s festivities. Following this, they came here and created a disturbance (the next night),” Hebbalkar said.

“No one should take the law into their own hands. Moreover, everyone involved is a minor. They’re mostly students ,” he added.