Karnataka: BJP leader among 6 accused of harrasing Adivasi woman

In a disgraceful incident, a 35-year-old tribal of the Adivasi community woman was allegedly assaulted and humiliated by a group of people, including a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Ujire village, Belthangady district of Karnataka.

According to the police, the incident occurred on April 19, due to a land dispute that led to the harassment.

The accused – Sandeep, 30, Santhosh, 29, Gulabi, 55, Suguna, 30, Kusuma, 38, Lokayya, 55, Anil, 35, Lalitha, 40, Chenna Kesava, 40, – of the same village stripped of the tribal woman’s clothes in public while recording the incident.

Chenna Kesava is also the president of BJP ST Morcha Belthangady.

According to the complaint filed by the tribal woman, she resided on government land which was regularised under 94C, along with her elder sister. On April 19, at around 4 pm, revenue officials came to settle the matter between the accused and the tribal woman.

However, the accused did not listen to them and created a ruckus forcing the revenue officials to leave, following which they harassed the tribal woman, her sister, and her mother. They stripped off her clothes in full public view and recorded the incident on their phones.

Belthangady police have filed a case and further investigations are on.

Questioning the BJP government, Ishwari Padmunja, a Dalit leader said, “It is shameful that such incidents are happening in our village. We are all educated. We are all Hindus. The BJP says that they will protect the Hindus, then why did this incident happen?”