KANNUR: In yet another incident of 'moral policing' in the district, a couple was attacked by group of people at Mayyil in the district on Monday. The attack took place when E P Naushad, a resident of Onchiyam in Kozhikode, took his pregnant wife K P Hafsath, a native of Kandikai near Mayyil, to a hospital in Kambil in the district.

According to Naushad, on the way back from the hospital, he went to an ATM counter, while Hafsath sat in a bus shelter, as she was unable to walk. But, since the ATM was not functional, he called his wife on her cellphone to ask if there was any other ATM nearby. As she was talking to him over mobile phone, a group of people came there and asked her with whom she was talking. Though she said it was her husband, the gang refused to believe her words and later, when Naushad reached there they also abused and attacked him saying that he did not look like a Muslim.

Later the couple lodged complaints with Kannur district police chief, State

and Women's Cell.

"If a woman, who goes out with her husband faces such threats, what will be the condition of the ladies who go out with their brother or father?" asked Hafsath.

Following this incident, the

registered a case against four people.and probe is on to nab the culprits.

Considering the gravity of the incident, in which one of the victims was a pregnant woman, the police have registered case under Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the IPC.Police said they had got some lead about the accused and they would be arrested soon.

Meanwhile, Kannur district police chief Rahul R Nair said that the police could effectively control such antisocial elements only with the cooperation of the society. "In order to help us to catch the offenders and punish them in an exemplary manner, the society should come forward and prevent such incidences and also alert the police," he said. "Though shadow police are functional in the district, that is not sufficient to curb such incidents," he added.

Incidentally, this is not an isolated case in the district.

Many such incidents have been reported from places like Thaliparamba, Pappinissery, Mattannur and Iritty, but the victims, more often than not, refused to file a formal complaint.

A couple of months back, in Manna near Thaliparamba, a youth was attacked by a group of people for talking to a woman from another community. The victim, P V Anishkumar, a worker in Kinfra Textile Park near Thaliparamba, had to be hospitalized following the attack. In another incident, a young woman in Nedumpoyil was 'interrogated' and physically assaulted by a gang of nearly a dozen people, who accused her of immoral activities.

In the recent times many such cases have been reported from Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod districts also. In Kannur, most of the cases were reported from Thaliparamba and surrounding areas, said the police official.

"If people are vigilant, it can be curbed. But quite often the society turns a blind eye to such criminal offences. Such incidents do not happen in the cover of darkness but in broad daylight. Still the people are hesitant to inform the police or stop the criminals," said Rahul R Nair.