The Ijoor police are on the lookout for a priest and his sister for allegedly humiliating and abusing a 13-year-old girl from the Schedule Caste with a racist slur when she went to fetch water from a public tap near a temple. The accused had allegedly assaulted the uncle of the girl and his friend when they confronted the priest.
On October 9, the girl, Bhavana, went to get a pot of drinking water from a public tap situated in the premises of Maramma temple in Channamanahalli village of Ramanagara district in Karnataka.
The accused, Kumar Kenchappa, and his sister Yashodha, allegedly objected to the girl entering the temple premises and claimed that she had desecrated the place. They abused her with a racist slur and warned her to stay away from the temple before snatching and throwing the pot she was carrying, said the police.
The girl went home crying and narrated the incident to her family, which prompted her uncle Prasanna Kumar to go to the temple and question the accused. Prasanna Kumar was accompanied by his friend Jayakumar. When confronted, the priest allegedly repeated the racist slur and warned them to stay away from the temple, and also allegedly assaulted them.
Passers-by took Prasanna Kumar and Jayakumar to a hospital before alerting the police. The police rushed to the spot, but could not find the priest and his sister.
The police have registered a case against the priest and his sister charging them under various sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of atrocities) Act, and for assault and criminal intimidation.
