Mangalore : The members of district Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike (KKSV) staged protest rally in front of DC Office on August 4, Saturday. The rally took out from Jyothi Circle to DC Office.

Addressing the protestors, journalist Gowri Lankesh, said that repeated attacks, some reported and some unreported pointed to the inability of the administration to stop the growth and impunity of right-wing Hindutva activists.

She also said that RSS is main responsible for such kind of attacks, along with other Hindu outfits such as VHP, HJV, Bajrang Dal, which all are branches of the RSS. RSS is the only organization which is always responsible for creating tensed atmosphere in the country.

Criticising C. Manjula of the Karnataka Women’s Commission, Progressive thinker Sabiha Bhoomigowda said that, instead reporting the issue of assault on the students, Manjula has tried to divert the issue by bringing legal procedure of home stay and the character of the victims and their parents in to the stream.

Former minister B. T. Lalitha Nayak demanded the state government to ban the HJV. She also said that citizens have the right to live their lives as per their wish and no one can stop it.

Suresh Bhat Bakrabail, president of KKSV said that the repeated telecasting of visuals of women, who are trying to cover their faces in front of the camera, drew the ire of Kamala Gowda, a women’s rights activist. -These girls have to think of their future, and by repeatedly telecasting it the harassment they faced may ruin their lives, she said.

He said that the city police and the Dakshina Kannada district administration must be undertaken for their failure to prevent attacks such as the assault on college students in a house rented out for parties in Padil.

They also urged the police to release details of the assaulters, who have assaulted the girls  to the media to be broadcast to the general public

Various organizations such as Diocese Council of Christian Women, DK District Women’s Forum, Mangalore Citizens’ Association, Karnataka Rajya Dalita Sangharsha Samithi, National Women’s Front, Popular Front of India, AHINDA, Catholic Sabha, Karnataka Missions Network, PUCL, National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations, Mangalore Central Committee, and others took part in the protest.