5-year-old girl allegedly kidnapped, killed by man in Hubballi, sparks outrage
Hubballi, Apr 13 (PTI): A 5-year-old girl child was allegedly kidnapped and killed by a man here on Sunday, police said.
The incident occurred at the Ashok Nagar police station limits here and the body was found in an abandoned building, they said.
Though there are reports of sexual assault, police have not confirmed it, and have said that medical examination and investigations are underway.
Outraged by the incident, a large number of residents from the locality gathered in front of Ashok Nagar police station and staged a protest, demanding justice.
"The complaint is being taken from the parents of a girl and necessary legal action will follow," Police Commissioner of Hubballi-Dharwad N Shashi Kumar told reporters here.
Victim's family hails from Koppal district. Her mother worked as a house maid and as an assistant at a beauty parlor while her father worked as a painter, he said.
"The mother had taken her daughter for work, as she was working at the houses in the locality. An unidentified man had taken the girl from there. On searching, the girl was found in the bathroom of a small sheet roofed building in front of the House from where she had gone missing. She was immediately shifted to hospital, where she was declared brought dead," he said.
The Commissioner said, the culprit will be nabbed at the earliest and necessary legal action will be taken.
Responding to a question on the accused, he said, CCTV footage is being checked, once the identity of the accused is established, his whereabouts and other details can be ascertained and necessary action will be taken.
Asked was there any rape attempt or sexual assault, he said, "No information for now. Cause of death, was there any kind of assault on the girl child will all be verified," he said.
Police have requested agitators to maintain peace and allow police to do their job and take necessary action.
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SC to hear pleas for reviewing wages of priests, temple staff
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the wages and other benefits given to priests, 'sevadars' and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta is likely to hear the PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, seeks directions to the Centre and states to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the remuneration and other benefits given to the priests and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
"Petitioner also seeks a declaration that priests and temple staff are employee' under Section 2(k) of the Code on Wages, 2019. Petitioner submits that once the State assumes the administrative, economic and financial control over temples, an employer-employee relationship arises and denial of dignified wages to priests and temple staff violates the right to livelihood guaranteed under Article 21," it said.
Upadhyay said the cause of action accrued on April 4, when he went to Varanasi to attend a public programme and after performing 'Rudrabhishek' in the Kashi Vishwanath temple, which is controlled by the state, he came to know that even the minimum wages to live with dignity are not given to the priests and temple staff.
"Recently, in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, priests and temple staff organised a large-scale protest demanding the minimum wages. Priests and temple staff are not getting even the minimum wage prescribed by the State for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. This is a systemic exploitation. State is acting as a model employer through the endowments department, but violating the minimum wages Act and the directive principles of state policy (Article 43)," it said.
The plea further said the continued refusal to meet the minimum wages with the 2026 inflation-adjusted cost of living index has forced the petitioner to seek judicial intervention to prevent the further marginalisation of priests and temple staff.
Upadhyay further said the precarious nature of livelihood was starkly exposed on February 7, 2025, when a Tamil Nadu department issued a circular at the 'Dandayuthapani Swami Temple' in Madurai, strictly prohibiting priests from accepting 'dakshina' in 'aarti plates'.
"It is necessary to state that priests in such temples often receive no formal salary from the State and rely entirely on 'Dakshina'; the State's administrative order directly threatened them with starvation. Although withdrawn due to public outrage, the incident highlights the State's arbitrary power over the survival of the priests. This is also a bitter truth that States are controlling lakhs of temples but not a single mosque or church," the PIL claimed.
The petition, alternatively, sought direction to the Centre and states to take appropriate steps for the welfare of priests, sevadars and other temple staff in the spirit of the Allahabad High Court's earlier judgments.
