Racist Moral Police20-yr-old Muslim student kidnapped, beaten to pulp for taking picture with Hindu girls

Muhammad Riyaz, 20, was reportedly the student on the left-hand side of this photo taken in Mangalore, India, which spread on WhatsApp and came to the attention of so-called 'moral police' (Mail Online)

A gang of 'moral police' vigilantes abducted and beat up a 20-year-old Muslim student, Muhammad Riyaz, because he appeared in a picture with five Hindu girl

A 20-year-old Muslim student, Muhammad Riyaz, has said he was kidnapped and beaten up by 'moral police' vigilantes for taking picture with five Hindu girls.

The 'offensive' picture was taken in the classroom of a college in highly conservative Mangalore, India.

It showed Riyaz in the left corner of the photo while his friend, another Muslim, reclined on the laps of the five girls.

Unfortunately for them, the photo went viral on social messaging app WhatsApp late February attracting the attention of the vigilante that attacked him.

Speaking from his hospital bed, the computer science student said the gang dragged him into a car and took him to the outskirts of the city where they beat him mercilessly with wooden clubs.

They asked him to identify the friend who had lain on the girls' laps.

'We were outside near the gate, when a Maruti 800 car came and they asked me something," Riyaz told The News Minute.

"Then suddenly, they just hold of me and dragged me into the car."

He said all of the students in the picture are close friends.

"All of us have been very close since the first year. If we were not close, would the girls permit it?

"If it was forced, then would the girls be smiling?"

The Assistant Commissioner of Police Ravi Kumar told The Indian Express that the vigilante group asked students of Riyaz' college to identify the boys in the picture.

"'After the photograph was circulated on social media sites, a vigilante group got other students from the college to identify the deviant youth and on learning that he was probably a Muslim, decided to attack him," Kumar said.

Riyaz’ friend has gone into hiding, afraid that the gang members will attack him too.

Meanwhile, the college has suspended the girls and one of the boys in the picture.

Daily Mail reports that Mangalore in a part of India with several right-wing conservative Hindu groups, the most extreme of which are dubbed 'moral police.