SC, ST Welfare Committee of State Legislature visits Inam Veerapur

A.R. Krishnamurthy, Chairman of Karnataka Legislature’s Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Welfare Committee, has emphasised the need for all the departments to work in coordination without yielding to any pressure to ensure that the victims in the ‘honour killing’ incident at Inam Veerapur village got justice and those involved were subjected to severe punishment.

Chairing a meeting of officials of various departments, including Police and Revenue Departments, in Dharwad after a visit to the village in the morning, Mr. Krishnamurthy said that the government considered any kind of atrocity against SC/ST communities seriously and would take all necessary steps to ensure stringent punishment to the accused.

He said that all necessary help would be ensured to the victim’s family and also emphasised the need for conducting extensive programmes create awareness to prevent recurrence of such incidents and to promote social harmony.

Members of the committee, D. Thimmayya, Hemalatha Nayak, F.H. Jakkappanavar, Krishna Nayak, Dr. Chandru Lamani, and Samruddhi V. Manjunath spoke during the meeting and collected all the information regarding the incident from the officials.

Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Divya Prabhu G.R.J. briefed the committee about the measures taken by the district administration, the progress of the investigation and assistance extended to the affected family.

Superintendent of Police Gunjan Arya briefed about the background of the incident, the arrest of the accused, legal action taken, and the security provided to the affected family. Other members of the committee and a host of senior officials of various departments including ZP CEO Bhuvanesh Patil, SP of DCRE Belagavi Division Ravindra Gadad and others were present.

Earlier in the day the committee members led by the Chairman visited Inam Veerapur village in Hubballi taluk to console the family members and to get further information on the incident. After interacting with the members of the affected family, they  reviewed the security arrangements in the village.

Suresh Khanapur of Karnataka Dalita Vimochana Samiti briefed the committee on the sequence of events and said that the victim’s mother-in-law was still unaware of the death of her daughter-in-law as she was recovering from injuries and shock. The Samiti members also sought continued police protection for Vivekananda Doddamani and his family and suitable relief and employment for the family. A memorandum in this regard was submitted to the committee members of Karnataka Dalita Vimochana Samiti and the Karnataka State Dalit Sangharsh Samiti.