E-Paper
Karnataka seer Pocso case: Govt taking case lightly, says BJP MLC Vishwanath
“These are Pocso accused and they have been moving around with so much courage and guts,” Vishwanath told reporters in Bengaluru. “Evidence (against the seer) was destroyed.”
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Karnataka, AH Vishwanath, on Sunday alleged that most of the evidence against the influential Lingayat seer booked for sexually assaulting two minor girls has been destroyed and claimed lapses in state police’s investigation.
The Karnataka police arrested Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, the pontiff of Jagadguru Murugarajendra Vidyapeetha Mutt in Chitradurga, late on Thursday night, days after he was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly sexually exploiting two girls studying in schools operated by the mutt and living in its hostel.
“These are Pocso accused and they have been moving around with so much courage and guts,” Vishwanath told reporters in Bengaluru. “Evidence (against the seer) was destroyed.”
On Sunday, the Chitradurga police took the seer back to the mutt to collect his samples and other evidence.
“The government took this (case) very lightly. For whose protection did they take it so lightly? Was it for the common person or a Dalit?” the BJP member of legislative council added. “One of the girls (minor victims) is a Dalit and another from a backward community. What are people and seers from AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) doing?”
Alleging that the state police have failed in performing their duty, Vishwanath said: “There is a great lapse in the performance of the police. The home department must take this very seriously.”
The allegations from a senior member of the ruling party has added to the criticism of the chief minister Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government over handling of the case in which the seer was not arrested for nearly a week despite a case being registered against him under the Pocso Act.
“Until the Pocso judge warned them (police), the accused were roaming around freely. All evidence has been destroyed now. The bedsheets in the hostel, the bed in which the seer sleeps...have all been destroyed,” alleged the MLC.
A first information report (FIR) was registered on August 27 against the head seer of the mutt, which is among the most influential religious centres for the politically influential Lingayat community, believed to be the single largest caste group in Karnataka, but police are yet to question or detain him.
Vishwanath demanded that Chitradurga superintendent of police K Parashurama should be suspended for not arresting the seer soon after the complaint in the matter was registered.
The ruling BJP, meanwhile, brushed aside the allegations by the party MLC, saying those were his “opinion”.
“The opinion given by Vishwanath is his own, but the government is viewing everyone under the law as equal and is doing its job,” CT Ravi, BJP national general secretary, said on Sunday. “People will talk if we arrest them or don’t arrest them... there is a saying that you can impress god but not people.”
On August 28, former chief minister BS Yediyurappa backed the accused seer claiming the charges against him were “false”. “It is a false charge. There is no truth in it and after the completion of the investigation, he will come out clean,” claimed Yediyurappa, who is also from the Lingayat community.
