Harshika Poonacha, who is an actor predominantly in the Kannada movies, has claimed that she and her husband Bhuvann Ponnannaa were “physically abused” and harassed for speaking in the local language by a group of people who attempted to rob them. Taking to Instagram, she posted the videos and photos of the incident and wrote, “How safe are we locals in our Bangalore? Are we living in Pakistan or Afghanistan?”
She said that she, along with her husband and family, had gone to the Karama Restaurant near Bangalore's upscale Fraser Town on April 2. She alleged that they were attacked by a group of men after they left the restaurant.
“A couple of days ago, I went to have dinner with my family at a restaurant called Karama on Masjid Road in Pulikeshi Nagar near Fraser Town area. After dinner, we were leaving the valet parking after taking our car, when two men suddenly appeared near the driver-side window and started arguing that our vehicle was so big that if it suddenly moved it might touch them. My husband asked them to leave because they were talking about a possible incident and it didn't make sense. We moved the vehicle a little further and by then, these two men started abusing us in their language and even tried to hit my husband in the face and said, 'These local Kannadigas should be taught a lesson.' My husband was very patient and didn't react much,” she wrote in a long Instagram post.
Mob attempts to rob
She further alleged that around 30 men from the same gang gathered and attempted to snatch her husband’s gold chain.
“Two of them tore my husband's gold chain and tried to pull it towards them... My husband realised just in time and held on to it and gave it to me. They damaged the car and tried to physically abuse us by saying things that neither we nor the others could understand. My husband did not react much since there were women and family in our car. Also, what I noticed was that they had a problem with us speaking in Kannada. 'Yeh local Kannada wala hai (these are local Kannada people),' they said. It agitated them more when my husband and I spoke in Kannada only,” she claimed.
Actor dials police
She said that she made a phone call to an inspector she knew in the area and the men “dispersed in a fraction of a second like nothing had happened”.
“We tried looking for them but they had disappeared into thin air in a matter of seconds,” she said.
The actor further claimed that she received no help from the local police. “We found a patrol police vehicle nearby and narrated the incident to Umesh, the Assistant Sub-Inspector, from the nearby police station, he did not seem keen to help us. He said we should talk to the higher-ups in the department and did not even have the courtesy to come and find out what happened”.
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