BANGALORE: Members of the Legislative Council, cutting across party lines, on Tuesday demanded that a fast-track court be set up to deal expeditiously with the episode in which a woman teacher in Mundargi taluk committed suicide following harassment by a local politician.

The members expressed their anguish over the incident in which Prema had committed suicide by setting herself ablaze in front of the residence of a local politician Girish Bhavimani who allegedly used to harass her in his capacity as member of the School Development Monitoring Committee. They argued that initiating stringent action against the guilty would send a strong signal to others and help reduce the cases of sexual harassment against working women.

Some of them even demanded an inquiry by the Corps of Detectives and suggested that the police inspector concerned and the Deputy Director of Public Instruction of the district should be dismissed from service for ignoring her complaints against Mr. Bhavimani.

Participating in a discussion on the episode, Leader of the Opposition H.K. Patil and Janata Dal (U) member Basavaraj Bommai suggested that a fast-track court be set up to deal with the case so that the guilty could be punished soon. Narrating the incident, K.T. Srikante Gowda (JD-S) said that Prema, a Dalit and a native of Chamarajanagar district, had lost her husband at a young age as he committed suicide unable to bear poverty. She continued her education later and joined government service as teacher in Mundargi taluk in Gadag district.

Unable to bear the harassment by Mr. Bhavimani, she complained to the Education Department officials concerned of the district in addition to taking up the issue with the police. But she was disillusioned when none of them came to her rescue. "It was strange that the accused kept on ridiculing her even when she was committing suicide. The general public too only watched the suicide bid as mute spectators and did not prevent her from taking the extreme step as they were scared of Mr. Bhavimani," Mr. Gowda alleged.

Leader of the House D.H. Shankaramurthy asserted that the Government had taken the incident seriously and would ensure that the guilty was punished. A detailed reply in this regard would be made by the Government to the House on Wednesday, he said.

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