In a shameful incident of rape and molestation of a minor girl, Chitradurga Court in Karnataka took a pontiff under nine-day judicial custody. as the police did not seek an extension of his custody, under which he was held since September 2.
Following this, the second additional district and session court took him under judicial custody. The pontiff has been in police custody for the last three days.
He was arrested on the night of September 1 and was produced before the judge who sent him to judicial custody. On the next day, morning, he was presented before the court which remanded him to police custody.
The Mysuru city police had recently filed a first information report (FIR) against the seer under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act under certain sections of the Indian Penal Code for the alleged sexual abuse.
Subsequently , an FIR was registered against a total of five people, including the warden of the prominent Lingayat Muth’s hostel, based on the complaint by an officer of the District Child Protection Unit.
Two high school girls had approached a non-governmental organization in Mysuru and narrated the alleged abuse, following which it approached the authorities and the police registered the case. The case was subsequently shifted to Chitradurga, as it was the alleged crime’s location.
The seer, who wields considerable influence in the community, was also booked under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as well, as one of the victims belongs to the SC community.
