‘Are we in Pakistan?’: Radical Islamic crowd attacks Actor Harshika Poonacha in Bengaluru

Harshika Poonacha, a Kannada film actress, on Friday shared a harrowing incident where she and her family were allegedly attacked by a group of people in Bengaluru's Frazer Town for speaking in the local language Kannada. Members of the group even tried to snatch a gold chain from her husband Bhuvann Ponnannaa, she said.

 

The actress shared a video of the incident on social media and questioned how safe residents are in Bengaluru.

 

 

Harshika Poonacha, along with her family, had gone out for a casual dinner at a restaurant on Mosque road in Frazer town's Pulikeshi Nagar a couple of days ago. In her post, she narrated that two men suddenly appeared near their car's driver seat window and started arguing that the vehicle is very big and that it could touch them if it moved suddenly.

 

"My husband ignored it by saying "innu move maadilwalla side bidi" (we haven't moved at all right, please move aside now). He moved the vehicle ahead a little, by then these two men started abusing him and my family in their language saying these Kannada people should be taught a lesson and even tried to hit him on the face," She wrote.

 

A crowd of 20 to 30 people gathered around their car within two to three minutes of this and two of them tried to snatch Bhuvann Ponnannaa's gold chain, she wrote. “My husband realised this on time and quickly held on to it and gave it to me,” She posted.

 

Getting frustrated, the gang started damaging their vehicle and also tried to physically abuse them, she said.

 

“Also these guys had a problem that we were talking in Kannada. They were like your coming to our area and stop talking in languages you want. “Yeh local kannad wala hey” (these guys are local Kannada people). It agitated them more when my hubby and me spoke only in Kannada. They said keep your ”Kannada style" to yourself. Most of them spoke either Hindi , Urdu and a few in broken Kannada," She added.

 

 

 

Poonacha then contacted an inspector she was acquainted with, after which the gang “disappeared into thin air in a matter of seconds”. Her attempt to get help from an ASI from the nearby police station was in vain as “he did not seem keen to help”, she wrote.

 

“He said we should talk to higher ups in the department and did not even have the courtesy to come and find out what happened. He wanted to drink the moosambi juice that he was drinking in front of a restaurant just two buildings ahead,” Her post read.

 

Poonacha said the incident has scared her from going out in the city she grew up in and questioned “Are we living in PAKISTAN or AFGANISTAN?? Is it wrong to use my language Kannada and get abused for it in my own city??? How really safe are we in our own city?”

 

The actress requested CM Siddaramaiah and the Karnataka State Police Department to look into the matter and take appropriate action. Her post garnered more than 14,000 views at the time this article was being written.

 

Several internet users expressed shock over the incident, with one writing, “@BlrCityPolice Even Celebrities Are Not Safe. Kindly Look Into This.”