School girl 'raped' in Karnataka's Belagavi, two held
Belagavi (PTI): A class seven girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by two men while she was returning home from a flour mill in this district, police said on Wednesday.
Accused duo - Manikanth Dinnimani and Iranna Sankammanavar were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the incident that occurred last month, they said.
According to police, on November 21, the accused allegedly dragged the girl into a sugarcane field while she was returning home from a flour mill located near her house, and raped her.
The victim lodged a complaint on Monday evening following which a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act case was registered at the Murgod police station here.
In her complaint, the girl has alleged that Dinnimani sexually assaulted her while Sankammanavar assisted him.
According to Belagavi Superintendent of Police, Bhimashankar Guled, both the accused were taken into custody for questioning. The girl has given her statement in the presence of a female officer.
“We have arrested the two accused and initiated legal procedures. We need to investigate why the complaint was filed late. Usually, in such incidents, children may be in shock and may not open up immediately, or some parents may hesitate to come forward due to concerns about their dignity. These are the patterns we have observed," he said.
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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.
