SC notice to Karnataka government on plea challenging bail to Murugha Mutt pontiff in sexual assault case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Karnataka government on a plea challenging the High Court's order allowing bail to the pontiff of Murugharajendra Mutt, Chitradurga, in a case lodged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Satish Chandra Sharma sought a response from the state government and Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru within four weeks on a petition filed by father of a victim girl.

The court has ordered for the matter to be tagged with a pending petition filed by H Ekanthaiah challenging the HC's quashing of an order that restrained Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru from discharging duties as pontiff of SJM Mutt after his arrest in the case.

In the present matter, the petitioner led by advocate Aparna Bhat questioned the validity of the High Court's order on several grounds, which included it conducting a mini trial in the matter by going through the evidence and medical reports.

"The evidence of rape given by the minor victim girls constituted primary evidence that alone is sufficient to convict the accused with or without corroboration," the plea said.

Both the victim girls have been consistent right from the very beginning and there is no reason to doubt their credibility or trustworthiness at the stage of consideration bail, it contended.

The plea also said the HC's order has committed gross error in concluding that the provisions of the SC/ST Act have been wrongly invoked in the charge sheet by relying on the irrelevant consideration that if the accused intended to sexually exploit girls belonging to SC/ST communities, the girls belonging to those communities would not have been admitted to the Hostel.

"The pontiff of the Mutt wields extraordinary power and influence as is clear from the fact that even though the two minor victim girls were being sexually abused by him for 3.5 years and 1.5 years respectively, both girls had been threatened into silence by the accused and his accomplices. Both girls in their statements before the magistrate stated that they were severely beaten up. Both victim girls only found the courage to reveal the details of the sexual abuse after they had been away from the Hostel for a period of almost one month," it said.

The pontiff was arrested in the case on September 1, 2022.

A charge sheet was filed against him on October 28, 2022 for the offences of sexual assault and various other provisions of the POCSO Act, of the SC/ST Act, and of Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1988.