Attack on Dalit woman in Manipal for feeding stray dogs: Accused sent to judicial custody
Udupi: Chandrakanth Bhat, who was arrested under charge of brutally assaulting a 50-year-old Dalit woman recently for feeding stray dogs near his house at Indrali in Hayagriva Nagar, has been remanded in 14 days of judicial custody.
The Dalit woman, Baby, a resident of Kunjibettu Budnar was grievously injured in the attack and is being treated at the Ajjarakadu Hospital.
Bhat was reportedly angered that Baby, who is learned to have been acquainted with Bhat, was feeding the stray dogs near his house. Taking an objection to this, Bhat not only abused the woman verbally but also reportedly hit her on the head with a wooden rod.
A case was booked against Bhat at the Manipal Police Station under Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860 and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Bhat was arrested by Manipal Police on March 21 and, when he was presented before the court, the bench ordered that he be sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
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The Udupi District Committee of the Karnataka Dalita Sangharsha Samiti (Ambedkar faction) has alleged that the authorities, under pressure from the local legislator, admitted the arrested accused to the Udupi District Hospital on the same night, claiming ill-health. The panel has also said that the accused has been receiving 'royal treatment' at the hospital.
The Committee office-bearers, who spoke to Udupi Superintendent of Police Dr. Arun K, have urged the senior police officer to take strict action and ensure that there is no violation of the law in handling the case. They have also asked the SP to continue the investigation after adding the IPC Sections that were excluded in the FIR.
The panel members also met the attack victim Baby at the District Hospital with the permission of the Udupi Deputy SP, who is the investigation officer.
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Have only resigned as Delhi Congress chief, not joining any political party: Arvinder Singh Lovely
New Delhi, Apr 28: Arvinder Singh Lovely on Sunday said he has only resigned as chief of the Congress' Delhi unit and is not joining any other political party.
His clarification came after Congress ex-MLA Asif Mohammad Khan claimed that the BJP would field Lovely from the East Delhi constituency, replacing Harsh Malhotra.
"I have only resigned as Delhi Congress chief and I am not joining any political party," he said at a press conference at his residence.
Lovely said his resignation reflected the pain of Congress workers saddened by the fact that the "ideals they had been fighting for during the last seven to eight years" were being compromised.
"We are fighting the elections together but never did the Congress workers say that we are giving a clean chit to them or giving them credit for building schools and hospitals, which is far from the reality," Lovely said, referring to the party's tie-up with the AAP in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls.
"Those who are saying that I have resigned out of anger over ticket (distribution), it is not like that. You all know that I introduced the candidates by holding a press conference three days ago," Lovely said.
Earlier in the day, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj asked in a post in Hindi on X, without naming anyone, if the BJP was changing its candidate for East Delhi.
Questioned about Bharadwaj's post and whether it hinted at him joining the BJP, Lovely said he only resigned as the Delhi Congress chief.
"Thanks for Bharadwaj's wishes. I think he takes decisions on behalf of all other parties. I have just cleared to you that I resigned from the post of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president," Lovely said.
In a setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Lovely resigned as the party's Delhi unit chief, citing the alliance with the AAP as one of the reasons.
He said the Congress' Delhi unit was against the alliance but the party high command went ahead with it.
"The Delhi Congress unit was against an alliance with a party which was formed on the sole basis of levelling false, fabricated and mala fide corruption charges against the Congress party ... half of the cabinet ministers (of the party) are presently in jail on corruption charges," Lovely said in his resignation letter sent to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday.
"Despite that, the party (Congress) made a decision to ally with the AAP in Delhi. We respected the party's final decision ... I even went to the extent of visiting Mr (Arvind) Kejriwal's residence on the night of his arrest along with Mr Subash Chopra and Mr Sandeep Dikshit, despite the same being against my position on the matter," he said.
The Congress is contesting the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance with AAP in Delhi. As part of its seat-share arrangement, the Congress is contesting from three seats while AAP has fielded candidates from four constituencies in the national capital.
Lovely had resigned as chief of the Congress' Delhi unit in 2015, taking moral responsibility for the party's worst-ever performance in the assembly elections.
The Congress had failed to win a single seat in the 70-member House as AAP swept to victory in 67 constituencies and the BJP won three.
Lovely contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 from East Delhi against the BJP's Gautam Gambhir and AAP candidate Atishi, securing 24 per cent votes.
Gambhir won the seat by 3.93 lakh votes ahead of Lovely in second.
Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats will go to the polls in the sixth phase on May 25.
