Minister visits temples, takes truth test to disprove critics in girl's death ca

 Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar on Thursday led a group of Congress leaders to temples  here and took a truth test (pramana) at the Sri Rameshwara temple, avowing he did no wrong in the case pertaining to the death of a 14-year-old girl.

The death of the schoolgirl after she was reportedly kidnapped, sexually assaulted and drugged, had set off protests spearheaded by the Opposition BJP, which accused the Congress government of shielding the culprits. 

The minister’s temple sojourn, even while the Siddaramaiah-led government is keen on passing the Karnataka Prevention of Superstitious Practices Bill, 2013,  surprised many. They accused the minister of promoting superstition. 

The minister and his team visited the Venkataramana, Marikamba and Ganapathi temples, also in the town. Besides prayers, the minister offered Rs 1,001 and Rs 501 as ‘kanike’ to the Lord at the temples. The minister was accompanied by Congress leaders Patamakki Ratnakar, T L Sundaresh, Kestur Manjunath and members of town panchayat.

Speaking to mediapersons later, Kimmane said he had not favoured any community or interfered in the investigation in this case. 

“If I have committed a mistake, let the Lord punish me. If not, let those making baseless allegations against me be punished.” He named former MLA Araga Jnanendra, Thirthahalli Town Panchayat member Sandesh Javali, Rajya Sabha member Ayanur Manjunath, MPs Shobha Karandlaje and B S Yeddyurappa among those who must face divine retribution. Challenges BJP

The minister challenged the BJP leaders to take a truth test at Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada to prove their innocence. He recalled that his political rival had lost the electoral battle when he had invoked the Lord’s blessings. Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa had been similarly challenged by JD (S) leader H D Kumaraswamy in the past. The minister said that if he is proved true, he would take out a padayatra from Rameshwara temple to Mallikarjunaswamy temple at Mrighavade in the taluk, a distance of nearly 30 km.

BJP activists of the taluk, meanwhile, accused the minister of violating prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC, which  prohibits the assembly of five or more people.  Defending their act, Congress leader B A Ramesh Hegde said, “it’s an open challenge to the BJP leaders, who claim to be the guardians of Hindu religion.”