‘Everybody is scared, nobody willing to give statement,’ member of BJP fact-finding team for Belagavi incident

Belagavi (Karnataka) [India], December 16 (ANI): BJP MP Locket Chatterjee alleged on Saturday that women are scared under the Congress government in Karnataka. She was there in Belagavi as a member of the fact-finding team of the BJP for the incident of a 42-year-old woman being allegedly assaulted and paraded naked.
"Nobody here is willing to give a statement; everybody is scared. This means that women are scared here under the Congress government," Locket Chatterjee told ANI.
She said that the BJP wanted Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to come to Belagavi and gave a statement on the situation.
"We want CM to come here and give a statement on this situation...We want the Congress party to pay some respect to women. They have made the government with the votes of women so they should pay a little respect to women," Chatterjee said.
Earlier, the five-member BJP fact-finding team, comprising Aparajita Sarangi, Sunita Duggal, Ranjeeta Koli, Locket Chatterjee and BJP national secretary Asha Lakra, met with the victim's family on Saturday.
A 42-year-old woman in Vantamuri village of Belagavi district was allegedly assaulted, paraded naked, and tied to an electric pole after her son eloped with a girl from the same village.
The incident took place on December 11.
Even as the BJP has upped their ante against the Siddaramaiah government, they have accused the BJP of playing politics over the incident.
"BJP's rule in Karnataka witnessed multiple instances of violence against women, but BJP National President J P Nadda has forgotten this to politically target us. Unfortunately, he is using a recent incident of violence against a woman in Belagavi for politics," Siddaramaiah posted on X on Friday.
The Chief Minister said that as soon as the Belagavi incident came to light, the state Home Minister, G. Parameshwara, and Minister of Women and Child Welfare, Laxmi Hebbalkar, visited the survivor's home not only to console her but also to provide compensation.
The police apprehended the culprits within 24 hours and put them behind bars, he said.
"I am personally overseeing the investigation of this case. Our government is committed to ensuring that such inhumane acts do not occur by meting out strict punishment to the guilty," Siddaramaiah said in the post. (ANI)