Boycott of SC family alleged; protestors demanded arrest of accused in Mandya

Mandya: Members of Karnataka Samvidhana Sene, Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, and Ambedkar Warriors staged a protest, on Monday, in front of the office of District Superintendent of Police (SP), in Mandya city, demanding the arrest of the accused, who allegedly assaulted a woman belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC) family and imposed a social boycott on her in Kacchigere village of Mandya taluk.

The activists gathered near the SP’s office and raised slogans, demanding the arrest of the accused persons. The victim has been identified as M Rajini.

The incident began when Rajini's family sought transportation for the harvested paddy from one Bhojaraju's land. They reportedly approached farmers from their own village to hire a bullock cart. But, they refused to come.

Thus the family of Rajini hired a bullock cart from a farmer in the nearby village of Keelara. When they were transporting the harvest on January 3, the accused — Bettegowda, Shivanna, and others — intercepted the bullock cart and started a quarrel, the protestors alleged.

After some time, Rajini’s family managed to remove the logs and thorny bushes placed across the path and brought the cart filled with paddy to the threshing area. The accused, Bettegowda and others, allegedly followed them there and quarrelled, stating that they would not allow the threshing, they alleged.

The protestors accused that Bettegowda’s group tore Rajini's clothes, attempted to rape her, hurling caste abuses, and finally imposed a social boycott on her family in the village.

H N Narasimhamurthy, Ganga Raju, Krishna, Annadani Somanahalli, Pradeep B Hosahalli, Kumar, Mohan, Keshavamurthy, and Umesh, participated in the protest.