Karnataka - Hubli-Dharwad

MLC, supporters block highway

HUBLI: The Pune-Bangalore National Highway passing through Haveri was blocked by Shivaraj Sajjanar, MLC, and his supporters for almost three hours on Friday in protest against the alleged ill-treatment of a woman by the police and the reported refusal of the Superintendent of Police to come to the scene of the protest.

According to the people of Boodagatti in Haveri taluk, a resident of the village, Shobha Chanabasappa Pujar, had gone to Haveri along with an eight-year-old relative, Sangeeta, from where she had to catch a bus to go the Virabhadreshwara temple at Maidur in Byadgi taluk, on Thursday.

On arriving in Haveri, she was ‘picked up’ by the police and taken to the Haveri Town police station for inquiry in connection with a missing girl case reported at the district hospital two months ago. The people of the village complained that the woman was interrogated by male police constables who allegedly assaulted her and forced her to “confess” to the crime, which she did not commit.

One of the residents was said to have seen the police taking Shobha to the station and informed the others in the village, who came to Haveri to inquire.

After the people from her village arrived, the police allowed Shobha to go back home. But on seeing her condition, they admitted her to the district hospital in Haveri. Trouble started when Mr. Sajjanar went to the hospital on Friday to enquire about her health. After meeting Shobha, he called the Superintendent of Police on the phone and asked him to come to the spot, which the official reportedly refused.

An angry Mr. Sajjanar then resorted to a snap “rasta roko” along with his supporters and said he wouldn’t budge from the spot unless the police official came and took action against those who assaulted the woman.

The stand-off between the police and the MLC lasted for almost three hours as a result of which vehicles passing through Haveri were diverted on the bypass. The protesters also demanded action against the Superintendent of Police as well as those responsible for assaulting Shobha.

Mr. Sajjanar called off the agitation only after district-in-charge Minister C.M. Udasi assured him over telephone that action would be initiated against police official as well as the erring personnel.

The protesters warned that if the Superintendent of Police was not transferred from Haveri, they would intensify their agitation.

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