Dharmasthala Mass Bariyal case revealed
Bengaluru: A shocking revelation has been revealed in the Dharmasthala month Barial case. The RTI investigation has revealed that Belthangdi police destroyed the major records of unknown death cases registered between 2000 and 2015. This time-limit almost completely matches the period, during which a man alleged that several bodies were buried around the Dharmasthala temple coming in that police station limits.
Many questions are standing
Many questions have arisen after the matter of erasing the records to be erased, as the complainant witness claims that between 1998 and 2014, he was forced to bury the bodies of women and minors and cremate them, many of which, according to them, had marks of sexual harassment.
In response to the application given under RTI filed in this connection, the police said that post -mortem reports, posters, notices and photographs put on the wall to find out the identity of the deceased persons were destroyed according to regular administrative orders.
The RTI application specifically sought details of cases of unknown unnatural deaths recorded over a period of 15 years under Section 174 (A) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC). The Public Information Officer of Belthangdi Police Station replied that those records are no longer available, as they have been disposed of under various circulars and procedures.
Citing permanent order number 762/759 and 874, as well as the record destruction process number 400 of Karnataka Financial Code, the officer also cited another recent order issued by the Karnataka Government Secretariat on 26 June 2013 and another recent order issued by the Superintendent of Police on 23 November 2023. At the end of the letter, it was said that necessary action will be taken in relation to the remaining cases.
Anxiety
Legal experts and civil society groups have expressed concern over the validity and morality of such destruction. He argues that police stations do not have the right to destroy records of criminal cases, especially unnatural deaths, which should be preserved in public interest.
This step is particularly worrying because South Kannada district is one of the most advanced districts in Karnataka in terms of digitization. Critics are raising questions as to why they were not digitized before destroying the record, especially when they include sensitive information of unknown persons, and whose families are still looking for them.
Kadaba taluka’s Kalmethadka’s policy team, which filed the RTI application, expressed disappointment on the reply and has expressed concern about justice, transparency and impact on the rights of the affected families. On the other hand, excavation work is going on in Dharmasthala on the spotlight of the witness complainant. The witness complainant had claimed that he had buried several bodies at 15 different places.
So far, SIT has completed the excavation work in 10 places by identifying 13 places, but human remains have not been found from anywhere other than place number 6, the witness complaint has appealed to the government and SIT that with the help of a ground penalty radar, the entire area should be scanned because the complainant had gone from here in 2014 and the hill was rained in 2014 due to the hilly area and the land was rained in the area. It is possible that the witness is not getting human residues in abundance at the place of the complainant, may have been more in the ground that they have fallen inside the ground or have slipped somewhere else.
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