A skirmish between clients and the owners of a photocopying centre over the lamination of a document in Darbe, Puttur, led to a tense situation on Friday. Apart from registering a case and a counter-case, the police had to use force to disperse the crowd and then register a case against a group of people who tried to obstruct them in the discharge of their duty.Fathima Miswa, her sister Mubashira and brother Naushad went to Dream Destination Janaseva Kendra and gave some documents for photocopying and lamination. When they returned, they found that one of the documents had been damaged and picked an argument with store owners Anjana Pai and Sudarshan Pai. When Naushad began filming the argument, the shop owners objected, following which there was an alleged exchange of blows between the two groups.Alerted to the incident, the police rushed to the spot, where a lot of people had gathered. While the police were taking Sudarshan Pai in their vehicle, Naushad attempted to assault Pai, and a few others, including a man named Niyaz, tried to obstruct the movement of the jeep. The police pushed aside Naushad and used mild force to disperse the crowd.The Puttur Town police registered the complaint filed by Mubashira and arrested Sudarshan Pai for offences under Sections 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), and 109 (attempt to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). He was produced before a jurisdictional court, which remanded him in judicial custody till September 2.The police have also registered a counter-complaint by Anjana Pai against Mubashira and her two family members for offences under Sections 115(2), 352, 351(2) (criminal intimidation), and 79 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the BNS. A complaint by Police Inspector Johnson D’Souza against Naushad, Niyaz, and others was also registered for offences under Sections 132 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty) and 121(1) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to deter a public servant from his duty) of the BNS. Published - August 22, 2026 08:27 pm IST