Bhatkal: An atmosphere of fear has gripped  Honnavar after a school girl was allegedly assaulted by two miscreants armed with  knife near Maagod village under Honnavar police station limit on Thursday morning.

The victim has been identified as Kavya Chandrashekar Naik (14), a resident of Kodlagadde in the taluk.

Sources informed that two unidentified men riding a bike attacked her and fled the scene after injuring her hands.

The victim was then rushed to Honnavar govt hospital for treatments. People gathered in the hospital and demanded to arrest the attackers within 2 hours.

Section 144 was clamped in Honnavar for next 24 hours and all the shops were shut down immediately. Schools and colleges in Honnavar alsk declared a holiday.

Uttara Kannada Deputy commissioner S S Nakul, SP Vinayak Patil amongst other higher police officers rushed to the spot and police security has been beefed up in the region.

A case has been registered in Honnavar police station.

The incident comes amid rising communal tensions in the region since the last two weeks.