Sakleshpur Taluk Panchayat Executive Officer G.R. Harish has been accused of assaulting a former Gram Panchayat member at Chikkanayakanahalli near Ballupete. A complaint has been registered against the officer with Sakleshpur Rural Police under the SC-ST (Atrocities) Act, besides other sections of the IPC, based on the complaint by Jayakumar, 35, the victim.
Jayakumar alleged that the officer visited his house around 4 p.m. on Wednesday and hit him with the lathi he was carrying, accusing him of violating the containment zone regulations. “Without seeking any explanation, he hit me hard. I am still feeling the pain”, Jayakumar, who works as a driver in the office of Alur Taluk Panchayat on a contract basis, told The Hindu on Friday.
A resident of Chikkanayakanahalli recently tested positive for COVID-19. The area was declared a containment zone, restricting the movement of the public. Jayakumar lives in the adjacent street. He continued to attend to his duty as a driver for the last 10 days. “All these days I did the duty as a driver for Alur TP. Nobody stopped from going out of the house, as I was also part of the government duty as a driver. The COVID-19 patient has already returned home after he tested negative. But, the officer called me over the phone on Wednesday morning and asked me to remain at home and in the evening he came to my house with a lathi and hit me, in front of my family members and people around”, he said.
His wife and son were also shocked by the incident. “My six-year-old son asked me why I was beaten up. What should I tell him? I am a former member of gram panchayat and the officer had brought a few political workers along with him”, he said.
The Executive Officer was not available for comments.
