Mangaluru,DHNS: A sub-inspector reportedly barged into a wedding ceremony at Savanalu village in Belthangady taluk, Dakshina Kannada, on Monday night and assaulted some women, including a nun.

But the officer claimed it was the family which assaulted him when he went to their place to investigate a complaint filed against them.

Here’s the family’s version: Sub-inspector of Belthangady police station, Sandesh P G, along with two other policemen, went to the house of Walter Saldanha in an inebriated state around 8.30 pm. The occasion was the marriage of Walter’s brother Alwyn.

One of the policemen locked the rear door from outside and started assaulting Walter. When his wife Jennifer, Alwyn and a cousin (the nun) protested and asked for a warrant, he beat and dragged Jennifer.

When the nun rushed to Walter’s rescue, Sandesh tore her clothes and called her a “prostitute”, she told Deccan Herald at the Wenlock Hospital here.

The officer also tore Jennifer’s clothes, “threatened to rape her and hugged her repeatedly”.

When some women and a young girl tried to film the incident on their mobile phones, he “slapped them, snatched their gadgets and damaged them”. Meanwhile, over half a dozen policemen arrived at the place. They beat the men and took them to the police station. No policewoman accompanied the team.

The family claimed the sub-inspector was angry with them for having complained to his boss, the ASP, stating that he didn’t take action against Anil Furtado, a man from Beltha- ngady who was “harassing” them. The women went to the SP’s office in Mangaluru, wearing the torn clothes, and made a complaint against Sandesh.

Sandesh, however, filed a counter complaint against Jennifer and five others — Theresa, Roopesh, Anoop, Ameera and Sr Winnie D’Costa — claiming they assaulted him. He stressed that he had gone to the family’s house only to investigate a complaint filed against them by Furtado who had accused Walter of pocketing Rs 5.10 lakh from him by falsely promising an Israeli visa for his wife.

SP, S D Sharanappa, said the Puttur ASP?would conduct an enquiry and submit a report.