City Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar came under criticism from a large section of people who were protesting here on Saturday against the rape of a six-year old in a school in Marathahalli earlier this month.
The people had gathered at the ground adjacent to the HAL Police Station demanding action against the culprits and also the school management. Tempers ran high at the venue after the Commissioner refused to meet them. They had been waiting for him for over an hour.
Protesters said that though Mr. Auradkar had promised to meet them, he later asked them to meet other senior officials. While officials present at the spot informed them of the inability of the Commissioner to come since “he was not in town”, the protesters did not budge and threatened to continue the agitation till he met them. Only then Mr. Auradkar relented and arrived at the venue.
“Why did he arrive so late? Especially, when he was informed about the protest. He had promised to come,” said an angry parent whose child studies in the school where the rape took place.
The Commissioner asking them to have faith in him also did not go well with those who had gathered at the venue. They even raised slogans against the Commissioner and told him that they did not have faith in the police. Some even asked him to resign. “We are not satisfied with the assurance given to us by the Commissioner. He appears to be running away from the situation,” said Ryan Dutt.
Even as parents raised slogans and said they were not satisfied with his assurance, Mr. Auradkar quickly made his way out of the protest venue.
Nutan Prasad, a research scientist who was at the protest, said, “Every day there are fresh instances of rape and molestation. I do not feel safe in the city anymore. Do we need to protest every day?”
