Attack on women at a bar in India raises fears of 'Hindu Taliban'

There was a bit of a street brawl outside a pub, nothing too unusual on the face of it, except for what happened next. After pushing a few men out of the way, the 40 or so attackers revealed what they were really after: young women at the bar, whom they slapped, pummeled and yanked by the hair, in what they later justified as a bid to safeguard traditional Indian culture.

Video of the smashed-up pub, Amnesia: The Lounge, and of several women being assaulted, with at least two being pushed to the ground, has topped news broadcasts for days. One Indian minister described the incident Saturday in the southwest city of Mangalore as a bid by Hindu fundamentalists to "Talibanize" India; others suspect a political ploy. MORE...