CHITRADURGA: As many as 103 girls, who were staying at the Akkamahadevi hostel run by the Murugha Mutt and studying at mutt-run schools, have reported that pontiff Dr Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru has not committed any sexual assault on them.
Based on a complaint from two minor girls alleging sexual assault by the then head of the Murugha Mutt Dr Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, a POCSO complaint was registered at Nazarbad police station after which it was transferred to Chitradurga Rural police station. The pontiff was arrested on September 1 last year from the mutt.
The Chitradurga district child protection unit immediately got the children released from the hostel and sent them to their respective districts. The Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights directed the respective districts administrations to conduct counselling of the girls and book cases immediately if they report any sexual assault.
So, the respective district child protection units conducted counselling thrice of 46 girls in Chitradurga district, one in Bengaluru, 14 in Davangere, two in Dharwad, three in Bagalkot, 17 in Ballari, three in Raichur, one in Koppal, five in Shivamogga and six in Belagavi. However, no child accused the pontiff of sexual assault. The children said they did not face any such things, said a source from the district child protection unit in Chitradurga. The report has been submitted to The Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
Meanwhile, the partial chargesheet filed by the Chitradurga Rural police states that the two minor girls in the first POCSO case, who were initially reluctant for medical examination, later got themselves examined. The report by the chief medical officer of the district hospital, Chitradurga, states that there was no sexual penetration.
The medical officer’s report in the chargesheet further states that the hymen of both the girls were intact.
However, the girls in their statement before the counsellors before undergoing the medical test had said that they were repeatedly forced to undergo sexual penetration by the pontiff, which is registered in the documents.