Belagavi stripping case: An extraordinary case, will be handled extraordinarily, says Karnataka HC
BENGALURU: Observing that the Belagavi incident, where a woman was stripped, beaten up and tied to an electric pole, is more heinous than the plight of Draupadi whose saree was pulled by Dushyasana in the Mahabharata, the High Court of Karnataka on Thursday said that it is not satisfied with the action taken by the State.
The court also orally observed that the incident reflects deep-rooted male chauvinism and only because they (the accused) are male, they behaved brutally with the woman and being male does not give them a licence to behave inhumanly. The court noted that it is an extraordinary incident and it will be handled extraordinarily.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit made these scathing remarks after going through the status report submitted by Advocate General (AG) Shashikiran Shetty.
“The status report is falling too short to refer to certain areas at this stage. At least we can say that we are not satisfied by the way things took place post the incident,” the court said while hearing a suo motu petition.
The report stated that the house of the victim belonging to a downtrodden community was attacked by the accused from the same community around 1 am on December 11. After ransacking her house, they attacked her with logs before stripping and parading her naked. They all kicked her tied her to an electric pole and thrashed her till 3 am. Eight accused are yet to be arrested.
To this, the court asked what would other women feel? If sensible women read this, they will start hating this country. It is much more heinous than the plight of Draupadi. Fortunately, Lord Krishna helped her. But unfortunately, no one came to help this victim from the Dushyashanas and Duryodhanas. The boy and girl might have made a mistake. Why should the mother be punished? Is it her fault to give birth to her son?, the court questioned.
The court also wondered whether the State Women’s Rights Commission exists. The State Human Rights Commission and the Women’s Rights Commission must have taken action immediately.
The court directed the AG to submit an additional status report on December 18 and ordered the Belagavi Police Commissioner and the ACP, who is the investigating officer, to appear before it on the said date.