Bantwal, Mar 3: Local women gathered in large numbers at Balthila Gram Panchayat hall near here on Saturday demanding death penalty to Sathish, who inhumanly killed Soumya for resisting his sexual advances and later dumped her body in a pond five days ago in the village of Balthila.
In the protest meeting held under the leadership of panchayat president Sundar Salian, several leaders from various political parties and village elders mourned Soumya's unfortunate death.
Addressing the gathering, several elders expressed sorrow and demanded that the accused should not be given any protection under the pretext of his caste. Harsh punishment such as death penalty or exile to the culprit, no advocate to defend the accused in court, appropriate punishment, no amount of money to be collected privately in the victim's name, moral support to be given to the victim's family and proper compensation for the family from the government were some of the demands and appeals that arose during the meeting.
The elders also appealed to the gathering that the ongoing sans-political struggle for justice ought to intensify and continue keeping aside all differences of caste, religion and parties.
BJP District president Padmanabha Kottari, Karnataka State Bal Bhavan Society president Sulochana Bhat, Zilla Panchayat members Chandraprakash Shetty, Mamatha Gatty, Chennappa Kotian, former MLA Rukmaya Poojary, Bantwal taluk panchayat president Lalitha Shivappa Naik, former vice-president Dinesh Amtoor, JD(S) district youth wing president Krishnappa Poojary, and leaders Mohan P S, Sooryanarayana Bhat, Netravathi and Ashaprasad, Radhakrishna Adyanthaya, revenue inspector Narayana Poojary and Bantwal town police inspector B Shekhar were present on the occasion.
A memorandum submitted to the Governor of the state was read out in the meeting.
No-show by MP, DC
On the other hand, the locals were irked that neither the Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel nor the Deputy Commissioner of the district had visited the grieving family of Soumya to offer their condolences.
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