The alleged ill-treatment of a Dalit woman by the police has been taken up by the Janata Dal (Secular) to highlight the government’s “lack of concern for the Dalits.”
Sunitha from Magadi Road had gone to meet the Chief Minister during the Janata Darshan on May 17. However, according to Ms. Savitha, the police did not allow her to meet Mr. Siddaramaiah till 8 p.m. She was then taken to the High Grounds police station, where she was allegedly harassed and even threatened with foisting a prostitution case.
JD(S) State president H.D. Kumaraswamy described this as “highhandedness” of the police. He questioned Mr. Siddaramaiah’s claim of being the “champion of the Dalits and Backward Classes.” The JD(S), he said, was taking up her case.
Senior police officials, however, said that the woman was found in front of the Chief Minister’s residence last Tuesday and she refused to leave the place. So the police decided to send her to the State home. They asserted that it was “a norm” as a woman cannot be detained at the police station after 6 p.m. They said she was not harassed.
