Dalit organizations in Mangaluru have demanded the arrest of a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Narayan Rai, who has been accused of raping a minor Dalit girl, working in a plantation owned by the Hindutva leader in a Karnataka village.
Dalit leaders alleged that though the girl named Rai in her complaint, the cops didn’t register an FIR against him.
“A minor girl belonging to a Dalit community in Mathur – Badagannur village was working in the plantation of Narayan Rai, the senior leader of the RSS and BJP. The girl recently gave birth to a baby, and she was raped by Rai. Rai’s name was mentioned at the time of delivery but the medical officer and staff of Lady Goschen Hospital, under political and other influence, told the girl that the girl’s elder brother’s name is being heard in the case and obtained a false statement signed by her in order to protect Rai,” Dalit leader Ashok Konchady told reporters.
Konchady further said that the police officers in Puttur rural police station visited the girl’s family and pressurised the family to change their statement about the RSS leader. Policemen also threatened the survivor’s family member and said to him that they will register a case against him and will put him behind the bars.
“The police in the first information report mentioned the name of the accused as Pramod with the specific intention of saving Rai,” Konchady alleged.
“The girl, in her complaint to the district superintendent of police, objected to not mentioning Rai’s name in the first information report, after which case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and Dalit atrocity act has been registered against them. The police, who are expected to arrest the accused and produce him in the court within 24 hours, by not arresting the accused, have been trying their best to shield the accused,” read a press release by Dalit organizations.
“We demand that the accused Rai be arrested immediately and a thorough investigation should be conducted into the case. If the case is delayed further, Dalit organizations will start a protest in front of Puttur rural police station,” the Dalit leader said.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the fountainhead of Hindu supremacist ideology and ideological parent of governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
