Mangalore: Hindu Mahila Vedike Terms NCW's Probe 'One-sided', Slams Shamina
Pic: Ramesh Pandith
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NM)
Mangalore, Aug 18: Prasanna Ravi, convenor of Jagrutha Hindu Mahila Vedike on Saturday August 18 alleged that Shamina Shafiq, member of the National Commission for Women (NCW) who was in the city to investigate the recent home stay attack, had conducted a one-sided probe into the incident.
Addressing a press meet here on Saturday, August 18, Prasanna Ravi said that Shamina had only spoken to the home stay owner and the victims and had closed-door meetings with them, and had not bothered to speak to the Padil residents. She also demanded to know the details of the closed-door meetings.
Condemning Shamina's attitude, she said, "When our team of women met Shamina Shafiq in Circuit House on August 16 to look into the atrocities against women in Mangalore in general, she rejected our memorandum saying that it was not her job, and asked us to approach the government."
"Through the memorandum, we requested Shafiq to look into issues like love jihad, sex mafia, drugs, rape and cases of missing women. However, she refused to accept our memorandum," she claimed.
"In addition, we also asked Shamina Shafiq to visit a minor girl who was raped, but she rejected that appeal too."
She further added, "While she was in Padil home stay for spot inspection, we women waited outside for her to express our opinion, but she gave us only a few minutes and did not respond to what we said."
"We condemn the behavior of Shamina Shafiq," Prasanna Ravi declared.
When reporters asked her whether her Vedike approves of the molestation of the girls at the home stay by HJV activists, she averted the question and instead blamed the girls and boys for partying at night in a home stay that had no valid licence. She alleged that as beer bottles were found at the spot, the boys might have been trying to lure the girls to exploit them.
The mediapersons asked her several counter-questions, to which she never answered directly and kept coming to the allegation that the youngsters were involved in illegal activities. She demanded to know why the police had not conducted medical tests on the youngsters, and why the girls were not coming forward to file complaints if they had done no wrong.