It has been over 13 months since the rape and murder of a girl in Belthangady hit the headlines, and the fight for justice continues with little progress.
However, the case was addressed in the ongoing winter assembly session in Belgaum on Wednesday, with Congress MLA Shakuntala Shetty asking the assembly to constitute a house committee to investigate the incident, and 335 other unnatural deaths of women in Belthangady taluk in the past ten years.
The observation made by Shetty reignited the accusations made by certain groups against the family members of the Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala, D Veerendra Heggade, of being responsible for the rape and murder, as well as being involved in other unnatural deaths of women in the region in the past decade.
Though the groups had pushed the Heggade family to a corner for some time, as the custodian of sanctity of the Dharmasthala temple, the latter had sought to put an end to the controversy by himself by asking for a CBI inquiry into the case.
“We have no accusations against the Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala or his family. But we do know that his name was dropped from the case by a few powerful people who are influencing the police and other investigating agencies,” said Somanath Nayak, president of the Nagarika Seva Trust, which is spearheading the rape and murder case.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary and politburo member Prakash Karat promised the victim’s family to raise the issue in the next available parliament session.
Politburo member of CPI(M), Brinda Karat, speaking to dna from Delhi, said: “Various women’s organisations have picked up the issue and unless some credible investigations are done by an equally credible agency on an impartial and unprejudiced platform, this fight will not end.”
In a boost to the case, the Delhi-based All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) will also join the fight in a big way.
Quick recap of the case
The girl’s body was found mutilated on October 10, 2012, near Dharmasthala, about 100 km from Mangalore, when she was returning home after her first year pre-university midterm examinations.
Two sleuths of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), deputy superintendents of police Rudramuni and Jagadish, who were investigating the case, took voluntary transfers from the CID, owing to the pressure from the government not to proceed in with the case, said activist Mahesh Shetty Thimmarodi.
To a question raised by dna, Heggade said: “I have nothing to hide. I had visited her (the victim) home after the incident and had offered all help to her family. I thought it was my duty as a religious and social leader of the region to do so. If the investigations has not yielded quick results, I am not the one to be blamed. I see it as an attempt to tarnish the image of a place of worship that has an unquestionable record of upholding socio-religious values.”
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