Women’s panel demands special investigation team for Dharmasthala deaths, sexual assaults | Bengaluru News
Bengaluru: Karnataka State Women’s Commission chairperson Nagalakshmi Choudhary has urged chief minister Siddaramaiah to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) to probe decades-old allegations of disappearances, unnatural deaths, and sexual assaults of women in Dharmasthala, a major temple town in Dakshina Kannada district.In a letter on Monday, Choudhary wrote, “The Commission has taken serious note of reports aired by some media outlets on July 12, 2025, which included claims about the recovery of a human skull. Concerns were raised by the family of a missing medical student. These revelations point towards possible systematic abuse, murder, rape, and unexplained deaths involving women and students.”Citing recent media coverage and a sensational court statement by a former sanitation worker who claimed to have buried “hundreds of bodies” between 1995 and 2014, Choudhary said the developments were “deeply alarming, which requires immediate and impartial investigation”.She also highlighted the alleged indifference of police to past complaints by families of missing persons. “There are allegations that police personnel failed to act appropriately when families attempted to register complaints about missing women or unnatural deaths,” she wrote.Choudhary urged a “thorough and unbiased” investigation by a high-level SIT into incidents going back 20 years. The govt is yet to respond to her appeal.SDPI to hold statewide protest SDPI Mangaluru Rural District president Anwar Sadath Bajathur said the party will launch a statewide protest demanding a thorough investigation into all unnatural deaths reported in Dharmasthala over decades. Citing the rape and murder of Soujanya, a 17-year-old who was raped and murdered in 2012, he alleged political influence in suppressing justice and called for a special investigation team under a sitting high court judge. The lone accused in the case was acquitted recently. Bajathur criticised political parties for staying quiet and questioned why protesters, instead of criminals, are being booked. “Where are Sangh Parivar members now?” he asked, urging the govt to punish all culprits involved.
