Mangaluru: CPI(M) staged a protest demanding justice for the 4-year-old child and the kidnapped nun, in front of the DC office here, on March 21.
Addressing the protesters CPI(M) leader Sunil Kumar Bajal said that, atrocities on women and girls are increasing day-by-day in Mangaluru. “The recent sexual assault on a 4-year-old girl in Ullal and the kidnapping of a nun are examples.” He further said that small children are innocent, but in our district such children have been sexually assaulted. “On March 13, a 4-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by a school van driver when he was dropping her home. When the child reached home and while the mother was giving bath, the child was crying in pain and repeatedly saying her van driver Madhukar Shetty’s name. There are a number of men in the school. The morning van driver is also a man, but why was she repeating the name of Madhukar only to her mother?” he questioned.
Sunil also said that when the mother went to the school with the child and complained about the sexual assault on her daughter, the school authorities rubbished the allegation and were trying to protect the driver. “The school authorities did not for a second think about the child’s future, instead they were trying to twist the case.”
He even said that when the child was admitted to Sahara hospital, there was a huge crowd and the police shifted the child to another hospital in their vehicle which is against the law. “The child should have been shifted to another hospital by the ambulance and not by the police car. The state and the union government should make the law strict in such cases and punish the culprits without mercy.”
Recalling another incident of a nun who was kidnapped by four men at Pumpwell,Sunil said that the nun after finishing her work at Thumbay was returning to her hostel. “She got down at Pumpwell and was walking towards her hostel when all of a sudden four men surrounded her, dragged her in an auto and were forcibly taking her to some place. On the Nanthur road, when the auto slowed down, the nun jumped out of it and escaped. When she later went to the Kadri police station to file a complaint, she was made to wait for 2 hours and her complaint was not registered. The nun was then sent to another police station to file the complaint. If women are being treated in such a way when they face such situations, how will the police be able to curb such crimes? We need to put an end to such crimes. People should unite and fight for justice. Whoever is involved in crimes related to women should be severely punished.”
CPI(M) leader Vasanth Achar speaking to the protesters said that senior Congress leader Janardhan Poojary calls press meets every now and then to hand over IAS officer D K Ravi’s death case to the CBI. Poojary had said, “If the state government will fail to hand over the case to the CBI, the Congress party will be wiped out from the state like in Delhi.” Vasanth continued and said, “If the cases will not be handled properly in Mangaluru, will the Congress survive? InUllal, a 4-year-old child was sexually assaulted, in Pumpwell a nun was kidnapped and students were not allowed to go on a study tour in Mudipu. Why did Poojarynot call a press meet on those issues?” he questioned.
Vasanth also said that the Sangh Parivar is sowing seeds of communalism in the district. “When Hindu organizations organize programmes and deliver inciting speeches, the police are not taking any action. But recently when the Beediworkers protested, the police issued a notice saying that the crowd was more than that what was mentioned in the letter. When the students were going on a study tour, the Hindu organizations stopped them from going. We doubt whether there is any government in Karnataka. The Sangh Parivar is ruling our state. They attack the innocent students when they go to study tour. They are not allowing the students to mingle with other students.”
U T Khader is the Health Minister and he is from Ullal. “It is his responsibility to provide safety to the students. If he cannot do that, it is better for him to resign. When there are atrocities on women and girls, it is the duty of the political leaders to raise their voices against the crimes.” He also said that if action will not be taken against the culprits, CPI(M) will intensify their protest in the coming days.
Imtiyaz, Krishnappa Konchady, Jayanti B Shetty, Vasudev Uchil, Lokayya U B,Nitin Kuthar and others were also present.
