By Shankar Raj
Bengaluru: A 37-year-old woman from Hassan district in Karnataka died allegedly after she was caned repeatedly by a temple priest who was trying to ‘cure’ her of her headache.
According to the FIR filed after the woman’s death, Parvathi (37) had been complaining of constant headaches for two months. She had consulted several hospitals in Bengaluru, where the doctors allegedly told the woman that she had no illness, media outlet TNM reported.
The woman then approached Manu, the priest at the Piriyapattaladamma temple in Bekka village. The priest ‘diagnosed’ her headache saying it was out of fear for which he had a ‘remedy’. As part of the ‘treatment,’ the priest started hitting her on her body, arms, legs and head with a cane. The FIR states that the woman collapsed due to exhaustion after this.
She was then taken to a government hospital where the doctors asked her relatives to rush her to a bigger hospital. She was then rushed to the Hassan government hospital where she passed away on Dec 8, according to delayed reports.
Priest Manu has been absconding since the incident and the police have launched a manhunt for him. They are awaiting the victim’s post mortem report to ascertain the cause of death. The police have booked Manu under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
*Shankar Raj is former Editor of The New Indian Express, Karnataka and Kerala, and writes regularly on current affairs.
– global bihari bureau
