A man belonging to the Scheduled Caste was paraded naked at Shaneshwara Temple in Gundlupete town in Karnataka’s Chamarajanagar on 3 June by the priest and villagers alleging that the man intended to vandalise the idols, news agency ANI reported.
As per the police, the incident took place a day after the 38-year-old man couldn’t take the Union Public Services Commission exam, reported Hindustan Times. Pratap was reportedly depressed as he couldn’t take the exam and left home on his bike and rode to the temple.
The police further mentioned that in the complaint, the priest had alleged that Pratap had destroyed the temple in the night. When Pratap was confronted, he tried to escape, the priest said.
The villagers chased Pratap, tied him up and got him back to the temple where he was assaulted and a video of the incident was shot. He was then handed over to the police, reported Hindustan Times. Several social media users shared the video.
Later, Pratap’s father told the police that his son was mentally ill and urged that Pratap should be taken to a hospital.
“When he came, I gave him water. He wanted to come to the temple. I called him but suddenly he held my collar and started abusing me without any reason. When he had come to the temple he had no clothes on, we gave him a lungi. He is not mentally fit it seems,” ANI quoted Chandrappa, a priest at Shaneshwara Temple as saying.
Additional Superintendent of Police, Chamrajnagar, MS Geetha told Hindustan Times that the attackers had no idea about Pratap’s medical condition or which caste he belonged to.
“We have booked a case under the Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against six persons. So far we have detained Shivappa and one Mahesh,” she said.
Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy also took to Twitter to condemn the incident.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)
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