Eideard

The leader of a right-wing group is among a number of new arrests that have followed an assault on women drinking in a bar in the city of Mangalore.

Pramod Mutalik heads the little known local group called the Sri Ram Sena (Army of Lord Ram) in the southern state of Karnataka. Mr Mutalik says it is “not acceptable” for women to go to bars in India. He has argued that Saturday’s assault on the women was justifiable because his men were preserving Indian culture and moral values.

The BBC’s Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says the attack – which was filmed and then broadcast on national television – has shocked many Indians. Television pictures showed the men chasing and beating up the panicking women – some wearing skirts. Some of the women, who tripped and fell, were kicked by the men.

Women’s groups have strongly condemned the attack which has been described by the country’s Women’s Minister Renuka Chaudhury as an attempt to impose Taleban-style values.

Right-wingers of most nations are often cowards. They prefer to attack people without comparable means of defense – like a pack of hyenas. What we call in my neck of the prairie – bushwhackers.

Mutalik’s gang seems no different.