Assault on NWKRTC bus conductor leads to POCSO case; protests in Belagavi, Kolhapur

Assault on NWKRTC bus conductor leads to POCSO case, protests in Karnataka and Maharashtra, arrests made.

The case of assault on a NWKRTC bus conductor for asking a passenger to speak in Kannada has taken another turn now with a counter case under provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act being filed against the bus conductor. Meanwhile the Police have arrested four persons including a minor in connection with the assault. The incident has also taken a political turn with protests being staged both in Karnataka and Maharashtra

On Friday (February 21, 2025) evening, Mahadevappa Hukkeri, the bus conductor was admitted to hospital after he was assaulted by a group of miscreants for asking a passenger to speak in Kannada at Chikka Balekundri village. He was subsequently admitted to hospital.

The Marihal Station Police, who have nabbed the accused, have given their names as Maruti Turamuri, Rahul Raju Naidu and Balu Gojkekar, all residents of Balekundri village. One of the accused is a minor.

In a subsequent development a case under provisions of POCSO Act has been registered against the conductor by the girl who had travelled with a boy in the NWKRTC bus which was proceeding to Sulebhavi from Belagavi on Friday (February 21, 2025). In the complaint, the conductor has been accused of behaving  inappropriately with the minor girl.

On Friday (February 21, 2025), a boy who was travelling with a girl on the bus started arguing with the conductor when he was asked to pay for his ticket. As he began arguing in Marathi, the conductor asked him to speak in Kannada, after which the boy started abusing him. He subsequently called his friends, who boarded the bus and then beat up the conductor.

Following the arrest and the POCSO, protest and counter protests were witnessed in Belagavi in Karnataka and its nearby city Kolhapur in Maharashtra.

Members of Shivaramegowda faction of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) and Kittur Karnataka Sene staged road block on Belagavi-Bagalkot state highway condemning the Police registering a POCSO case against the conductor. The KRV members also staged a dharna before Marihal Police Station and demanded that the case under POCSO Act registered at the station be withdrawn.