Published Jan 18, 2024 | 11:18 AM ⚊ Updated Jan 18, 2024 | 11:18 AM
Karnataka High Court. (Wikmedia)
The state government has informed the High Court of Karnataka that the police have completed their investigation into the Belagavi incident where a woman was disrobed and beaten by villagers after her son eloped with a girl.
The final report would be submitted by the end of this month, the division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit was informed on Wednesday, 17 January.
The bench is hearing its own petition, which the court had taken cognizance of on 12 December, based on news reports.
The incident took place in a village in Hukkeri taluk, where a woman was paraded naked, tied to a pole, and beaten up by villagers.
On Wednesday, Additional Advocate General, Prathima Honnapura filed a memo stating the investigation has been completed.
The memo said that the statements of all the witnesses and the accused had been recorded, and arrests have been made. It further said that the forensic report is awaited and the final report would be submitted to the HC before the end of the month.
The memo listed the measures undertaken for the safety of the victim by the local police, KSRP, and armed police.
It said that the compensation announced by the state government has been handed over to the victim.
The Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Schedule Tribes Development Corporation had allotted two acres and three guntas of land to the victim.
But the victim sought land close to her village and therefore officials are on the search for alternate land, the memo said.
Recording these submissions, the bench adjourned the hearing.
After taking suo-moto cognisance of the case, the high court, in its hearing in December 2023, called the incident worse than the Draupadi disrobing in the Mahabharata.
The court called for the need for fixing collective responsibility in such cases.
“Some collective responsibility measures have to be taken, which Lord William Bentinck took in history. It is not the action of offenders, but the inaction of those standing at the spot that is more dangerous. These people standing mute spectators will make the assailant a hero,” the high court said.
While hearing the suo-moto petition, Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale said earlier, “It is not ‘beti bachao, beti padhao’. It is ‘beta padhao’, to save the girl child. Unless you tell the boy child, you will not be achieving it. The girl will naturally be respectful to the other lady. It is for the boy to be told to respect and protect the lady.”
On 17 December, the case was transferred to the CID by the Karnataka government.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) also had issued a notice to the Karnataka government and the state’s police chief after the incident.
The purported act, as reported, seemed to have a “stereotyped patriarchal approach”, which was a clear demonstration of the violation of the right to life and dignity of the victim, the NHRC observed in its statement.
The Karnataka police, which formed a special inquiry team to further probe the incident, learnt that there was negligence on the part of the Kakati Police Station’s Inspector Vijay Kumar Sinnur.
He was suspended indefinitely pending the inquiry.
The woman was tied to a pole after her son eloped with a girl from the same community at Vantamuri village in Belagavi on 11 December.
Both elopers belong to the Nayak community. They apparently left their homes past midnight on 11 December.
An hour later, the woman’s relatives barged into the man’s house and found his mother alone. They allegedly assaulted the woman to elicit information about the couple’s whereabouts.
They then allegedly stripped her and then paraded her through the streets, before tying her to the pole.
Informed about the incident, the police arrived at the scene around 4 am, freed the woman, and clothed her.
She was then taken to a hospital where she was kept under observation. The police said she did not suffer any injuries.
(With PTI inputs)
