Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Mar 12: Poornima Shankar Shanthi, wife of RTI activist Shankar Shanthi, threatened to undertake indefinite hunger strike in front of the office of the Udupi district deputy commissioner from Monday onward, if main accused in the assault on her husband are not arrested by then.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday March 11, she said that her husband, Shankar Shanthi, has been organizing agitations against injustices meted out to common people. He always honestly strived to implement laws and rules, she said.
"On February 20, 2021, my husband was confined to a kitchen of Kalikamba temple near our house after which he was tortured which could have accounted for his life. I rushed to the spot after hearing his wails and saw that my husband was lying unconscious in a pool of blood. He was later admitted into the Aljjarkad hospital. When I went there after hearing his wails, a person was standing at the door of the kitchen. Still, I went in and saw that my husband was injured in his limbs and head. He was attacked because he was working honestly for finding solutions to various problems in the capacity as social activist and as an RTI worker. Manjappa Poojary filed a false complaint in the police station, saying that my husband broke the window glass of the temple and attacked others. Even after 19 days of the incident, main accused, Manjappa Poojary, Shantaram Shetty, Prasad Acharya and Diwakar Acharya have not been arrested," she explained.
Poornima Shankar Shanthi and her children, with the support of Billawa organizations, have decided to organize hunger strike in front of the office of the deputy commissioner if the main accused are not arrested in the next two days.