The High Court of Karnataka, while
continuing to hear the suo-moto petition on the stripping and assault case in
Belagavi district, called for fixing collective responsibility on the society
on Monday.
“It is not beti bachao, beti padhao. It
is beta padhao, to save the girl child. Unless you tell the boy child, you will
not be achieving it. The girl will naturally be respectful to the other lady.
It is for the boy to be told to respect and protect the lady,” said the High
Court Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale.
The High Court on December 12 took suo
motu cognisance of news reports of the incident of 42-year-old woman in Hukkeri
Taluk allegedly tied to an electric pole, stripped and assaulted after her son
eloped with a girl from the same village and ST community.
The High Court in its hearing called for
the need for fixing collective responsibility in such cases.
“Some collective responsibility measures
have to be taken, which Lord William Bentinck took in history. It is not the
action of offenders, but the inaction of those standing at the spot that is
more dangerous. These people standing mute spectators will make the assailant a
hero,” the High Court said.
The High Court noted that among the population
of 8,000, only one person namely Jehangir showed the courage and made an
attempt to save the victim from assailants of 50 to 60. In that process, he was
subjected to physical assault.
Exhorting citizens to build a good
society to build a good nation, the High Court questioned the villagers for
being just mute spectators and noted, “Sometimes witnesses are picked up and
not treated friendly. It makes them apprehensive. Police stations, subject to
exceptions, don’t differentiate between witness and accused.”
Suggesting forming new laws for
collective responsibility, the High Court slammed bystanders terming their
action as “collective cowardice” and saying that police are not of British Raj.
After consulting with the medical
officer, the High Court noted that the women needed treatment for six to eight
months and thus ordered the District Legal Services Authority or DLSA to release
the entire compensation of Rs 50,000 unconditionally.
Additionally, the victim was provided Rs
5 lakh in her account by the Chief Minister Relief Fund and allotted 2 acres 3
guntas (40 guntas are one acre) of land at Belagavi’s Chulki village by the
Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Schedule Tribes Development Corporation.
Post this incident, Police Inspector
Vijay Kumar Sinnur was suspended for lapses and the investigation has been
handed over to the CID.
Recording that all except two offenders
were arrested, the HC listed the matter for next hearing in the third week of
January when the authorities were directed to file a further status report.
NE Watch Desk
