BENGALURU: The woman who accused the pontiff of Ramachandrapura Mutt, Hosanagara, of sexually harassing her, met members of the Women’s Safety Committee, headed by Congress leader V S Ugrappa, and lodged a complaint against the Girinagar police inspector for playing down the case.
Ugrappa told reporters that the victim had met him and lodged a complaint saying that the accused had not been arrested even four days after a complaint was filed against the pontiff and his associates.
The victim has also complained that the Girinagar police were not cooperative when she went to lodge the complaint.
The victim also stated in her complaint to the committee that the prosecutor, while representing one of the accused before a court for anticipatory bail, had disclosed her identity, violating the Supreme Court guidelines.
Stating that he had also spoken to the city police commissioner about the alleged lapses on the part of the police officials in probing the case, Ugrappa said, “I have asked the commissioner to take measures to ensure that there would be no attempt by the police to protect the accused.”
The victim reportedly narrated to the panel chairman and other members about the harassment she faced by the pontiff and his associates when she was a 10th standard student in the mutt’s institution.
The victim, who was allegedly forced to marry one of the mutt’s members, was also subjected to inhuman treatment by her husband, he said.
Ugrappa said, “I would direct the law enforcement authorities concerned to act impartially.”
Cops Say They Cooperated
On Wednesday afternoon, Ugrappa summoned Girinagar police station Circle Inspector Shivashankar and jurisdictional DCP Lokesh Kumar and sought a clarification on the victim’s complaint.
Both reportedly denied the allegation and said they had cooperated with the woman as they too want to bring the culprits to justice.
They also told Ugrappa that they came to know about the swamiji’s efforts to secure anticipatory bail only through media reports and the government advocate did not consult them at all.
Following this, Ugrappa contacted Advocate General Ravivarma Kumar to verify the truth.
“The AG told me that advocate Keshavamurthy was replaced by Additional AG Ponnanna,” Ugrappa told Express.
Later, the victim along with her advocate, met Ugrappa and expressed her willingness to give another statement to the police.
Pontiff Files for Bail
Bengaluru: Ramachandrapura Mutt pontiff Raghaveshwara Bharathi filed a bail petition before the Sessions Court in the city on Wednesday. The petition was in connection with the rape charges against him made by a woman in her complaint with Girinagar police on August 29. The pontiff contended that the case against him is false. In the complaint, the victim stated that she was sexually harassed by the seer from 2006 when she was a minor. It can be recalled that the seer was also accused of sexually harassing a singer. The case was handed over to the Crime Investigation Department.