Karnataka seer Shivamurthy Sharanaru accused of rape
Bangalore:
Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, a religious leader of the politically powerful Lingayat community in Karnataka, who was arrested on charges of rape yesterday, has been sent to police custody for four days by a local court. He was taken to court this evening in a wheelchair from the intensive care unit of a hospital in Chitradurga, 200 km from Bengaluru, where he was admitted this morning due to health issues.
The police had demanded to keep the seer for five days for questioning.
The court criticized the police for not telling that the saint has been shifted from the prison to the hospital. It asked the jail authorities to submit a medical report.
The court said the police must ensure medical care to the seer in his custody, and take him to a hospital in case his health condition deteriorates.
Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, 64, heads one of the major Lingayat madrassas, Murugha Math. Two minor girls have accused him of rape and a case was registered six days back.
He has been named in a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act and the law protecting Scheduled Castes and Tribes, as one of the survivors is from the Dalit community.
The arrests took place at around 10.15 pm on Thursday after a day-long protest by civil society and social organizations in Chitradurga and Mysore districts of Karnataka. The police took utmost care in view of law and order issues – barricading the front door of the monastery a few hours before the arrest and escorting him out through the back door.
The case was registered on August 26 after both the girl students of Murugha Math approached an NGO in Mysore. Both teenagers alleged that they were abused for years.
A group of lawyers on Thursday wrote to the Registrar General of the Karnataka High Court, claiming that the investigation into allegations of rape “is not being conducted in a fair, independent and impartial manner”.