Belagavi: A fact-finding committee from the Bharatiya Janata Party visited Belagavi on Saturday to look into the incident involving the stripping and parading of a 42-year-old woman.
A young man and a woman, both from the same community within the Vantamuri village, eloped at around 12.30 am on Dec 11. Enraged by this the girl's family members attacked the residence of the man, and allegedly disrobed his mother, paraded and tied her to a pole and attacked her.
The fact-finding committee, comprising women MPs of BJP Aprajita Sarangi, Sunita Duggal, Ranjeeta Koli, Locket Chatterjee, and BJP National Secretary Asha Lakra, arrived at Belagavi airport on Saturday morning.
Upon their arrival, local BJP leaders including Belagavi district president Sanjay Patil, Chikkodi district president Dr Rajesh Nerli, Belagavi Mayor Shobha Somanache, MP Annasaheb Jolle, MLA Shashikala Jolle, Abhay Patil, and others met them, providing a briefing on the incident.
The team proceeded to Vantamuri village, engaging with villagers, family members of the victim, and directly speaking with the victim to collect essential details.
Members of the committee, when addressing reporters, expressed shock and concern over the incident.
Aprajita Sarangi, addressing the media, raised questions about the absence of the Chief Minister, state police head, and Chief Secretary at the scene, despite the entire state government being in Belagavi for a session.
"It is a question about the safety of the vulnerable segment of society. We are talking about women, we are talking about the ST community. The vulnerable section does not feel secure in the Congress government. Safety and security of people are the responsibility of the government. It should be the priority," she asserted.
Expressing dismay, she added, "We all feel that the law and order machinery has completely failed in the state of Karnataka."
Sarangi said that the committee had visited Belagavi following the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President JP Nadda.
She expressed unhappiness over the delay in their response from the police officials.
"Around 1.30 pm, the woman was attacked. She was disrobed, paraded, tied to a pole, and beaten up. The police arrived around 3.30 pm, despite the station being only 10-12 km from the incident site. Under the Emergency Response System, the police should have reached the spot in 10-15 minutes. The Inspector of the station considered this a small incident, sent subordinates, and arrived only at 8 am. It is shocking that the Inspector could be so indifferent and careless," Sarangi concluded.
