Villagers beat up man for sexual harassment

Residents of a village in Belagavi taluk beat up a person accused of sexually harassing a minor girl on Wednesday. The police took the accused, Parashuram Madiwalar, a former gram panchayat member from Mundgod, into custody after one of the villagers informed them that he had been apprehended. Villagers told the police that the offence was committed a few days ago. The accused came to Belagavi looking for work as a construction labour. He raped the minor and escaped to Mundgod. “We were alerted after he was caught by the people,” a police officer said. A case has been registered.