KSRTC conductor assaulted in Belagavi over Marathi language dispute. (Express Photo)Four individuals, including a minor, have been arrested for assaulting a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus conductor in Belagavi for not speaking Marathi. All the four were remanded to judicial custody on Friday night.The Marihal police presented the accused before a judge at his residence on Friday night. The judge ordered 14-day judicial custody for three of them, while the minor was sent to a remand home.The altercation took place on Friday afternoon at Chikka Balekundri village in Belagavi taluk. Conductor Mahadev Hukkeri was allegedly beaten by a group of about eight individuals. The incident began when a boy and a girl from the village, who were returning home from college, got into an argument with Hukkeri. The conductor had requested them to communicate in Kannada, as he did not understand Marathi. When the boy refused, the argument escalated.According to Hukkeri, the boy called a group of people who gathered at the village bus stand and allegedly assaulted the conductor. Hukkeri sustained injuries and is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Belagavi.Speaking to the media, the conductor said, ” …A woman and a man were sitting in the bus, majority of the passengers in the bus were women, I was distributing tickets, in Karnataka, bus ride is free for women…the woman sitting with the man asked for two free tickets, I gave her one and asked, for whom do you want the second ticket, she pointed towards the man. But, I told them that in Karnataka, bus ride is not free for men. Then they told me to speak in Marathi but I don’t know Marathi and asked them to speak to me in Kannada…6-7 people in the bus attacked me. Once the bus was stopped, there were around 50 people there and they also beat me up…”In a separate development, the girl who was traveling with the boy later filed a complaint against the conductor, alleging an attempted rape. Belagavi Police Commissioner Ada Martin confirmed the complaint, stating, “Based on the girl’s statement, we have registered a POCSO case against the conductor.”The attack on the conductor has sparked protests from several Kannada organizations, which demanded the immediate arrest of the accused. Demonstrators held protests in Belagavi on Friday and marched to Balekundri village on Saturday.Story continues below this adCondemning the incident, members of the Karnataka Nava Nirman Sene blackened the face of a Maharashtra bus conductor and vandalized the windshield of his bus in Chitradurga on Saturday.Raju Nashipudi, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike District President, Belagavi, said, ” The incident that took place in Belagavi, conductor was doing his duty. Then, a female student forced him to speak in Marathi and when the conductor said he didn’t know Marathi, the boys who were with the girl, attacked him. Instead of giving justice to the conductor, who was attacked, a case has been registered against him under the POCSO act…we will protest outside the Police station where the case has been registered…”© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:KSRTC