The recent news of a violent assault by the Congress MLA’s son Mohammed Nalapad Haris on a youth in a pub has made national headlines. However, a case of alleged assault by the same individual and his supporters on a woman named Poornima had been totally ignored by NGOs, police and media. The lady claims that she had tried to file a complaint against Mohammed Haris and his supporters, but did not get help from any quarters. The woman had also alleged that she had received death threats from Haris’ supporters for trying to file a complaint. The video was posted on the page ‘Mangalore Hindus’ yesterday.
The summary of the contents of the video is below :
The woman in her video said that she accepts the hue and cry over the incident involving Mohammed Nalapad Haris. She also says that the awareness in media and opposition parties in an election year is also quite visible. But the woman expressed regret that nobody in politics or media had tried to secure justice for her when she had been allegedly assaulted by Mohammed Nalapad Haris and his supporters in an NGO conference. She claimed that Haris and his supporters tried to assault her and smashed her phone. She said that all media-persons at the event were mute observers.
Poornima went on to say that the Cubbon Park police denied registering the case when she approached them for justice. The police had claimed that the location of the harassment, Canopy hotel did not come under their jurisdiction. They asked her to file a complaint with nearby Halasuru police station. When she approached Halasuru police station, the police allegedly told her to go back to Cubbon Park police station. In this way, she was made to tour police stations hopelessly. She also said that her complaint had been torn and thrown into the dustbin in her presence after the police got a call from the MLA. She asked in the video, whether the police had lost their morality.
The journalist went on to criticise Hindu organisations like Sri Rama Sena and Bajrang Dal who also refused to support her cause. When she approached them, these organisations asked her to assemble 500 or 1000 people and said that they would join later. She questioned as to why these NGOs existed in the first place if she had to assemble all the people. She also criticised these NGOs for protesting against Haris after the recent sensational incident. Poornima asked their organisations to dissolve if they can’t help a woman.
When she did not get justice, Poornima approached media to highlight her case. But none of them agreed to report the incident. “Had the media been fixed by Haris?”, she questioned. She also alleged that Haris’ supporters had threatened her to slaughter her on the roads for trying to file a complaint.
Towards the end of her video, she said that time is the best teacher, and everyone who has done mistakes would eventually face the wrath of fate. She also requested all politicians to be humble and serve the people rather than display the power of their position.
If the contents of this video are to be believed, it shows how people, police, politicians and NGOs are apathetic to support an individual trying to secure justice when assaulted by influential persons with political backing. One has to wait and watch if the so-called media and police take note of these allegations and deliver justice to an assaulted woman.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article erroneously identified Ms Poornima as a journalist. It has come to light that she was associated with an NGO called Jaya Karnatak. The article has been updated to that effect.
