Kannada actor Samyuktha Hegde says she was attacked while working out in Bengaluru park, shares video

Actor Samyuktha Hegde on Saturday, 5 September, said she and her friends were abused and attacked by Congress leader Kavitha Reddy while they were working out in a park in Bengaluru reportedly because of the clothes they were wearing. In the video, Reddy can be seen charging at Hedge’s friend, trying to hit her, and telling the police in the scene that the girls should be arrested for “indecent” behavior and exposure. A mob, which Hegde says was instigated by Reddy, accused the Comali actor of “indecency” in public for wearing workout clothes. Some also threatened to link Hegde’s name along with the drug racket controversy that’s currently sweeping over the Kannada film industry, reports The Hindu. A day later, Reddy hit back with a statement saying she did not wish to respond to an actor on “cheap publicity mode”. Reddy said she regretted losing her temper, and further insisted that she did not moral police the actor and claimed she had only intervened because her three friends had played loud music at the park. “It’s ridiculous to say that I was doing some moral policing when the fact remains that I go for a walk wearing shorts and many who come to Agara Lake wear what they want without any dress code or restrictions,” she wrote in the statement. Read Reddy’s statement here

In the initial video shared on Twitter, Hedge claimed she and three of her friends were confronted by Reddy and others for working out in sportswear. “It so happened that we were three girls working out and doing hoola-hoops when an elderly woman came and attacked us. She said we are doing cabaret dancing and even hit one of my friends,” Hegde said in the video She added that “several men in the park joined Reddy” and “hurled abuses” at the group.