Belagavi: Amid a reported rise in cases of sexual assault against minor girls in Belagavi Rural assembly constituency, former MLA Sanjay Patil on Tuesday alleged that a local MLA and women and child welfare minister, Laxmi Hebbalkar, was protecting the accused in such cases.Referring to a recent incident in Belagundi village, where a headmaster was accused of misbehaving with a high school girl, Patil claimed that the police released the accused on station bail despite the seriousness of the offence. He made the allegations while speaking to media here.According to Patil, the police registered a suo motu case against the accused, considering the gravity of the incident and invoked provisions of the Pocso Act. “Despite this, the accused was released on station bail due to pressure from minister Laxmi Hebbalkar. She has maintained silence on the issue,” he alleged.Calling it a serious case, the senior BJP leader said that videos and audio clips related to the incident went viral on social media. “I am ready to provide them to the police. The accused should have been arrested and sent to jail. Instead, due to pressure from the minister, the police are allegedly attempting to close the case,” he claimed.Patil further alleged that there were several such instances wherein cases were allegedly diluted or closed due to political pressure, citing the suicide of an FDC employee in the Belagavi tahsildar’s office as an example.He also claimed to have information that the victim’s family was threatened against speaking about the incident. “The police must perform their duty. City police commissioner Bhushan Borase should take a clear stand, as he is answerable to the public,” Patil said, adding that he will continue to raise his voice against offences involving minors.As far as the Belagundi case is concerned, hundreds of villagers gathered near the school after the incident came to light a week ago and assaulted the headmaster. Police struggled to save him from the angry mob.
