Karnataka: 37 girls shifted from Murugha hostel to residential schools

CHITRADURGA: With the sexual assault case allegedly involving Murugha Mutt seer Shivamurthy Swami casting a long shadow on the future of their residential education, 37 girls residing at two hostels run by Chitradurga's monastery have been shifted to government schools closer home.
The mutt seer and four others have been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso), 2012, after two girls residing in a hostel run by the mutt alleged that they were sexually assaulted for more than three years. The seer and a hostel warden have been arrested, while three other accused persons are absconding.
As the law takes its own course in the case, the 37 girls residing at Basava and Akkamahadevi hostels run by the mutt have been transferred to government-run residential schools in Karnataka. The girls were initially shifted to the government-run Morarji Desai Residential School in Chitradurga district.
Parents fear kids may be forced to cease studies
Later, they were relocated to residential schools closer to the place of their parents or guardians.
The girls are from districts of Ballari, Raichur, Koppal, Tumakuru, Bengaluru, Belagavi, Bagalkote, Shivamogga, Davanagere and Chitradurga, adn they come from varied religious, cultural and social backgrounds.
As per the records provided by the mutt authorities, at least 10 of the 37 girls are orphans or have single parents, who struggle to even meet their wards. The bigger challenge, however, is for the children to get back to their studies.
Yellakka, a widow from Bagalkot district, said her three daughters were given free education along with hostel facilities by the mutt for eight years. "Now, our children are scared of staying in the hostel after a sexual-assault case was booked against the seer," said Yellakka. The single mother said her daughters expressed their displeasure after they were shifted to a residential school in Bagalkot.
"It is a new environment and there are restrictions inside the campus. They likened their ordeal to that of a jail sentence," said Yellakka, adding the girls want to return home.
Others, who work as labourers and marginal farmers, fear their children may be forced to discontinue their studies for fear of a new environment. "What would happen to our children's future? They have already lost many classes. How do they make up for the lost academic time?" a parent said.
Reacting to the shifting of the girls, Parashuram ML, director of Odanadi Seva Samsthe which assisted the two girls in filing a case in Mysuru against the mutt chief, claimed it is a procedural lapse on the part of the district administration and will result in "mental scarring of the children who have been suddenly uprooted due to a serious crime".
He claimed that special counselling for these girls should have been done. "This scarring will remain for life," he added.