Close on the heels of a suspected case of human sacrifice in Sullia taluk, another case of abduction of a girl child in Chintamani in Chikkaballapur district with an alleged intent of human sacrifice has shocked region.
According to sources, nine-year-old Aniketha managed to escaped from her captors, who were allegedly trying to sacrifice her, and reached the safety of her parents on Thursday. The incident is being investigated by the Chikkaballapur police.
Chikkaballapur superintendent of police N Shiva Prasad district said the case does not look like there has been an attempt for human sacrifice. “Our officers are gathering information from the family of Aniketha and the people the town,” he added.
The two incidents have raised an alarm in the region and sharp reactions have been pouring in from various quarters, especially from rationalists who believe that the government should immediately promulgate the Anti-Superstition Bill.
“The act proposed by the Siddaramaiah government is in the right direction. Our country is passing through a phase characterised by superstitions being floated freely through channels in the name of jyotishya (astrology). This is a dangerous social development as gullible people will fall prey for such things and act on their own accord,” said Narendra Nayak, president of the Federation Indian Rationalists Associations (FIRA).
“Human sacrifice is a thing of the past and by not taking any step to curb such evil practices, we will be only making these elements bolder. I am shocked at the incidents even if they were yet to be proved that they were indeed attempts of human sacrifice,” Nayak said. The FIRA will be taking up a statewide movement in support of the immediate promulgation of the anti superstition act in Karnataka.
“We must congratulate the Karnataka chief minister for taking this step, but there has been too much delay. Maharashtra has already promulgated this Act, but I heard that the draft bill of Karnataka on the Anti-Superstition Act is much more comprehensive. I have also gone through similar bills of Chhattisgarh and Odisha, where the government has just taken one aspect of superstition limited to incineration of women after branding them witches,” said RG Rao of the Goa Science Forum.
Coinciding with the tabling of the Anti-Superstition Bill at the Belgaum assembly session, various Hindu fringe groups have whipped up a movement against the proposed bill. The Dharmika Swatantra Rakshana Samithi (religious rights protection committee), which was an arm of Vishwa Hindu Parishat, will hold a rally and demonstration in Mangalore on December 23. The groups call it Anti-Hindu Bill, which would curtail various religious rights of Hindus.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}