Are We Living In Pakistan Or Afghanistan?: Actress Harshika After Attacked By Mob In Bengaluru

Actress Harshika Poonacha has claimed that she and her husband Bhuvan Ponanna were attacked by a mob in Frazer Town in Pulikeshi Nagar, recently.

The actress has posted a clip and pictures of the "horrifying" incident on her social media account. In the post, she has asked "how safe are we locals in Namma Bengaluru?"

Initially, she contemplated letting the matter go, but after consulting with friends, family, and acquaintances in the police department, she decided to speak up about the incident.

"I was on a casual dinner with family on a late evening in a restaurant called "Karama" in Mosque road, Pulikeshi Nagar near Frazer town couple of days ago. Post completing dinner we received our vehicle from wallet parking & when we were about to move 2 men suddenly appeared near the driver seat window & started arguing that the vehicle is very big and if moved suddenly it could touch them. My husband ignored it," she said.

However, when her husband told them that their car has not moved at all, the men were talking about probabilities. She claimed, "He moved the vehicle ahead a little , by then these 2 men started abusing him & my family in their language saying these Kannada people should be taught a lesson & even tried to hit him on the face. My husband was really patient & did not react much & i was surprised because he normally is very short tempered. Within 2 - 3 minutes a crowd of 20 - 30 members of the same,"

She then claimed that the gang grabbed her husband's gold chain.

"My husband realised this on time & quickly held on to it & gave it to me. By this time this entire team was so agitated that they could not get their hands on the gold chain & other valuables that they started damaging the vehicle & trying to physically abuse us by saying made up things like we scolded them, that did not even make sense to us or anybody around," Harshika added.

Her husband refrained from reacting due to the presence of women and family members in their vehicle. Additionally, the individuals who approached them expressed displeasure at them conversing in Kannada, stating that they were entering their area and should refrain from speaking their language. The situation escalated further when both she and her husband continued speaking only in Kannada. The group insisted they keep their "Kannada style" to themselves. Most of them communicated in Hindi, Urdu, or broken Kannada.

When she made an emergency call to the inspector from her area, they dispersed within moments as if nothing had occurred. Despite attempting to locate them, they vanished within seconds. They came across a patrol police vehicle nearby and recounted the incident to Mr. Umesh, the ASI from the nearby police station. However, he appeared disinterested in assisting them. Instead, he suggested they speak to higher authorities in the department and did not even bother to investigate further. He seemed more focused on enjoying the mosambi juice he was drinking in front of a nearby restaurant, merely two buildings away.

She continued, "I've been in absolute shock after this incident & it still scares me to go out in the city that I was born in & has given me everything in life. This is the first such experience ive ever had in my city. Iam posting this to bring this to the notice of the police department & the government of Karnataka & to make sure that no woman or family in the future should ever go through such ordeals in Bangalore. Nobody has the rights to create such ruckus with peaceful people going about their life in Bangalore! A couple of questions popped up in my mind while i witnessed this unfold in front of my eyes."

Sthe then asked four questions: "1. Are we living in PAKISTAN or AFGANISTAN?? 2. Is it wrong to use my language Kannada & get abused for it in my own city??? 3. How really safe are we in our own city? 4. Being born & brought up here in Namma Bengaluru should we turn a blind eye into such incidents which lead to such long term mental trauma?"

The actress has tagged the letter to Bengaluru Police and the Karnataka Chief Minister.