BENGALURU: Bengaluru cops are worried. Naturally. With molestation cases on the rise, they are under fire from all quarters. Now, as a last resort they seem to be turning to God to protect women.
The police did take steps to strengthen policing. In Banaswadi, the police did a little more than just that. They believed that a homa will be an answer to their prayers. So they conducted a homa in the police station to apprise God of their problem. “They conducted religious rituals in the station seeking divine intervention,” confirmed a police source.
Sources said, “On January 20, pooja was performed by Banaswadi police inspector Munikrishna and his wife. Vaasthu pooja, Sudarshana homa and Shatru Samhaara Yaaga were conducted between 5am and 9am.” However, he denied any such ritual was held in the police station.
Two cases of molestation were registered in their jurisdiction. On January 1, around 2.41am, two men of a six-member gang molested a woman who was heading towards her room after New Year celebrations in Kammanahalli. Later, all six were arrested. On January 13, two persons including a foreign national, sexually assaulted a woman and a complaint was filed in Banaswadi police station. Two persons were arrested. This is not the first time that religious rituals were conducted by police. In 2015, following several road accidents on National Highway-48, Kalambella police performed Shanthi Homa believing that evil spirits were causing the accidents.
An IT company in Whitefield where a 28-year-old techie jumped to death from the balcony of the office cafeteria a month ago had reportedly performed homa on March 4 to remove the spooky feeling among other employees. They chose an off day for this. According to employees, many were scared to go to the cafeteria after the incident. An employee told Express, “We did not have an official invite for homa/pooja, but we were told about it.”