Indian Institute of Science

R Karthik

New BEL Road

Sadashivanagar

A 30-year-old PhD research scholar of thehas filed a complaint alleging he was punched and kicked out of a BMTC bus by the conductor because he spoke in Tamil. The scholar,, was standing near the door of the crowded bus and was asked to move further inside. When he replied in Tamil that he was getting down at the next stop, the conductor spoke to him in a derogatory manner, calling him a ‘Tamil guy’, and then literally kicked him out of the bus at the CPRI stop onKarthik, who is pursuing his PhD in chemistry at IISc, is a native of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, and has been in the city for the last eight years. He lives in Vigyanapura on ISRO Road. The incident happened last Saturday afternoon when he boarded the bus at ITI Layout bus stop and was headed for IISc.“I was supposed to get down at thepolice station bus stop and was standing on the foot board. When the bus came near the CPRI staff quarters stop on New BEL Road, the conductor asked me to go inside. I told him in Tamil that I am getting down at the next stop. It was heavily crowded and I knew it would be hard to get down if I moved away,” Karthik told BM. This, he said, infuriated the conductor who referred to him as “You Tamil Guy” and punched him on the head.Karthik claimed he got no help from other passengers, who instead started yelling at him to go inside or to get down from the bus. When Karthik refused to get down at the CPRI staff quarters stop, the conductor asked the driver to stop the bus.“The bus driver came near the door and requested me to get down as it was causing inconvenience to other passengers. While getting down, the conductor kicked me on my back side. None of the commuters were co-operative and almost all of them were against me just because I spoke in Tamil. From there I went to the Sadashivanagar police station which is close by to the IISc main gate and filed the complaint against the conductor,” claimed Karthik.A police official investigating the case said: “Based on the information given, we were able to trace the bus conductor within the next few days and he was summoned to the police station. The conductor has been released on station bail. The case is being investigated.”A case of wrongful restraint (IPC 341), intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace (IPC 504), and voluntarily causing hurt (IPC 323) has been registered by the Sadashivanagar police against the bus conductor.