Sexual assault on 5-year-old girl in Udupi
Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar directs immediate action for arrest
Udupi: A five-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by an unidentified man near the PPC area in Udupi city on Thursday afternoon.
The accused, believed to be around 30 years old, carried out the act, and a case was registered at the Udupi Women’s Police Station based on the complaint filed by the girl's parents.
Taking the incident seriously, Women and Child Development Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar, who also holds the position of District In-Charge Minister, has directed the authorities to immediately locate and arrest the accused.
Minister Hebbalkar, who is receiving treatment at the hospital for injuries sustained in an accident, immediately contacted the District SP and the Deputy Commissioner to gather details about the incident.
“The accused must be arrested immediately, and the girl should be provided with all necessary assistance,” the minister instructed the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police.
Public assistance sought in identifying the accused.
The suspect's photograph has been captured by local CCTV cameras, and the Udupi Women’s Police Station has appealed to the public to provide any information regarding the individual.
Contact numbers for reporting information:
Control Room: 9480805400
Police Inspector, Women’s Station: 9480805430
Women’s Station: 08202525599
Police Sub-Inspector, Women’s Station: 8277988949
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
