Woman tourist assaulted by parking attendant at Belur temple, left bleeding in the face

HASSAN: A woman touristwas pushed to the ground and left badly bleeding in the face, requiring stitches, over a parking dispute at the historical Chennnakeshava temple at Belur recently. The victim shared pictures of the attack on her on social media.

Veena Basavaraju and her family, hailing from Davanagere, had gone to the Chennakeshava temple in Belur recently. While her son was parking their car, the parking attendant picked an argument over some issue, used foul language and allegedly assaulted the son. Veena tried to intervene and break up the fight when she was violently pushed to the ground. She was taken to the government hospital where she required several stitches on the face.

The Chennakeshava temple in Belur.

About a week ago, an individual was awarded a five-year-contract by the Tourism Department to maintain a parking lot behind the temple and to collect fees. However, the contractor’s men have been fleecing visitors to the temple by collecting parking fees from visitors who park their vehicles in front and around the temple too, locals have alleged.

The action of the parking contractor is deterring visitors and the taluk administration and the temple management must ensure the safety of tourists, the locals said. They also pointed out that tourists prefer not to lodge complaints as they will have to make repeated trips to the police station and court.