Sujatha Bhat’s lawyer urges SIT office be declared police station
Mangaluru: Advocate Manjunath N., representing Sujatha Bhat, mother of missing medical student Ananya Bhat, has welcomed the move of Dharmasthala villagers to approach the Special Investigation Team probing the mass burials case.
He described it as a hopeful sign in the pursuit of truth and justice. In a statement released today, the advocate revealed that locals had come forward with credible claims about witnessing secret burials in the village.
Advocate Manjunath raised procedural concerns, reiterating his long-standing appeal to have the SIT office formally declared as a police station under the Criminal Procedure Code. “Since the formation of the SIT, we have urged that its office be designated as a police station to avoid unnecessary inconvenience and ensure smooth functioning of the helpline created for the probe,” he said. The lack of such a status, he warned, is hampering the team’s ability to register and act on complaints directly.
Despite the fresh complainants’ willingness to participate, a response issued by the SIT reportedly directed them to approach the jurisdictional police station instead. This, according to Manjunath, defeats the very purpose of having a dedicated SIT if it cannot independently register cases or accept crucial information from witnesses.
The Advocate also has released a letter from a third anonymous witness in the Dharmasthala mass burials case.
In the letter the witness claims to represent villagers from Dharmasthala and nearby areas, has written to SIT Chief Pranab Mohanty seeking inclusion in the ongoing exhumation operations. According to the letter, the individual claims to have personally witnessed the first complainant, whose identity has been featured in media reports, secretly transporting and burying human remains at various sites in the village.
The witness emphasized that while the burial operations may have been carried out in secrecy, they did not go unnoticed in a closely-knit rural community. He appealed to the SIT to allow them to independently identify burial sites beyond those already marked by the first complainant.
The third witness also expressed confidence in the SIT, noting that its formation under the direction of the Chief Minister has emboldened fearful villagers to come forward. They described the SIT’s presence as a “shield of safety” that is helping the truth surface after years of silence.
However, the SIT's assistant officer, in an official response, noted that the witness’s application had been reviewed and advised that complaints or evidence regarding criminal activity must be submitted to the jurisdictional police station for further action.
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Niqab incident: Nitish Kumar perhaps revealing his true colours, says J-K CM
Srinagar (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday criticised his Bihar counterpart over the niqab incident and said that Nitish Kumar might be slowly revealing his true nature.
"Nitish Kumar, who was once considered a secular leader, may be slowly showing his true colours," Abdullah told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.
Abdullah said Kumar removing the face veil of a Muslim woman doctor was wrong and cannot be justified by any means.
"We have seen this kind of incident here several years ago. Have you forgotten how Mehbooba Mufti removed the burqa of a legitimate voter inside a polling station? That act was wrong, and this act (of Kumar) is also wrong.
"If the (Bihar) chief minister did not want to hand over the order to her (Muslim woman), they could have kept her aside. However, to humiliate her like this is totally wrong," the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.
Kumar stirred a huge controversy after he removed the face veil of a Muslim woman at a function earlier this week.
