The Karnataka High Court has stayed a protest march demanding justice for Sowjanya that was to be held on Sunday, April 6, in Dharmasthala.
A single-judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna issued an interim stay order against the protest march that was to be held by two social organisations from Belthangady to Dharmasthala after they were granted permission by the Dakshina Kannada district administration on March 29. The court was hearing a plea filed by Dhanakeerthi Ariga, secretary of the Dharmasthala Grama Hitarakshana Vedike.
Sowjanya, a 17-year-old college student in Ujire, Dakshina Kannada district, was raped and murdered in 2012. A shoddy investigation led to the quick arrest of a man, Santhosh, who was later acquitted by a Special CBI court, which found insufficient evidence to link him to the murder. Throughout, her family and activists who tracked the case closely maintained that the man whom the police caught was made a scapegoat and that the real killers were being protected.
Senior advocate Uday Holla, who represented the petitioner, told the court that WhatsApp messages about the protest that had been circulated suggested that unlawful activity might occur. He said there were public discussions about violating previous court orders that had been passed in favour of D Veerendra Heggade, head of the Dharmasthala temple. “Not only that, there may be attempts to forcibly enter the temple,” Uday Holla told the court.
“The WhatsApp messages indicate that if a lot of people would come, they would break into the temple at Dharmasthala. That was not the intent of the petition preferred earlier nor what was permitted by this court. The WhatsApp messages would undoubtedly indicate that the perpetrators want to violate the orders passed by this court or the coordinate bench of this court,” Justice Nagaprasanna said and also ordered that notices be issued to the organisers.
Activists in Bengaluru had to approach the Karnataka High Court in mid-March even to hold a meeting to discuss the campaign for justice for Sowjanya after Bengaluru police effectively threatened preventive detention if the meeting occurred.
Editor’s Note: TNM has used Sowjanya’s name with written consent from her mother.
