Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (RJP)

Bantwal, Aug 28: A person has been arrested for allegedly stalking and trying to rape a young girl and sent to judicial custody after being produced in court .

Santosh Louis Bernard (38) from Badagabellur, Varakodi near Polali is the accused.

As per the complaint, the accused followed the victim when she was returning home after her work in Kaikamba. The girl went to a house on the way to avoid the follower and later walked on again to her house thinking that the accused had gone.

But the accused who reappeared later pulled her towards him and allegedly tried rape her in a secluded place. The girl shouted loudly for help, and fearing that he may be caught, the accused ran away. The distance from the bus stop to the house of the victim is around one-and-a-half kilometre.

The girl after reaching her house narrated the incident to her family. Sub-inspector Rakshith from Bantwal police rural station who received the information about the incident rushed to the spot and took a written complaint from the victim and arrested the accused who was absconding.

The accused is married and has two children. People in the village said that he was known for misbehaving with women and girls.

'Congress putting pressure on police'

Meanwhile, some persons alleged in a press meet that as the accused belongs to a minority community, leaders of a political party have been putting pressure on the police to book the accused under lenient sections of the law so that he gets out on bail easily.

Referring to the recent Attavar incident, they said, "In Mangaluru, when we try to rescue our youngsters when they are in trouble, we are accused of moral policing and our people are arrested and sent to Ballari jail due to political pressure. Same is the case in this Badagabellur incident. Even if a young girl from our community is harassed, the Congress leaders take the side of the accused and sympathise with him. We need to protect the girls of our community.

"Why is the state department of women silent on the Attavar incident? Why is it not taking any action against the man who harassed the girl and tried to force her into his car?" they questioned.

Gururaj Bantwal, Shashikiran, Pradeep Ajjibettu, Prakash Bellur and Kishore Pallipady were present.