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Health Department officials disguised themselves as patients and cracked down on the illegal sex determination centre in Varuna, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s constituency.
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah (left) and BJP leader N Ravikumar (right). (Image: PTI, X)
The BJP has attacked Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the growing crimes against women and girls in the state — pointing out that even in his own constituency, Varuna, law and order has completely failed and female foeticide is on the rise.
“A female foeticide racket is going on in a farmhouse in the Chief Minister’s home district of Mysuru. What is the Chief Minister’s response to this? What is the government’s strategy to stop this,” asked BJP Chief Whip in the Legislative Council, N Ravikumar, alleging that the Congress government has created an unsafe environment for women and children in the state.
“Before discussing the CM’s successor issue, first fix what’s happening in your own backyard,” Ravikumar said.
Kumar also turned his guns on Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, asking what he had to say about the “killing of hundreds of female foetuses” and questioning why there was no visible action on the ground.
Responding to the BJP’s charges, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao told News18: “What do they mean by what have we done? We are an alert government, and it was department that found the illegal racket and busted it. During the BJP regime, did they do anything? At least we are trying to trace, catch the culprits, and put them behind bars. We have taken this up seriously, that is why you are seeing these arrests. Are there no crimes in other parts of the country? In Varanasi? The BJP was not even bothered about such crackdowns on illegal activities and is now trying to give it a political twist.”
In the illegal sex determination racket that was unconverted, officials from the Health Department disguised themselves as patients and cracked down on the illegal sex determination centre in Varuna, the constituency from which Siddaramaiah has been elected.
A team from the health department, along with a woman decoy, went to the farmhouse on the pretext of getting a test done and found that sex determination tests were being conducted.
The Varuna police later arrested four people, including a woman, for conducting illegal sex determination tests at a farmhouse in Hunaganahalli Hundi village of T Narsipur taluk in Mysuru district. Two more are to be arrested.
Cases have been registered against Swamy, Govindaraju, Shyamali, and Karthik of Mysuru; Harish Nayaka of Bherya village in KR Nagar taluk; and Shivakumar and Puttaraju of K Salundi in Mysuru taluk. A scanning machine and cash were seized from the spot.
The case has been registered under the PCPNDT Act, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, and the Karnataka Private Medical Establishment (KPME) Act.
The BJP also raised the issue of safety of young women and children in the state, while referring to the rape and murder of a minor girl in Mysuru on October 10 during the Mysuru Dasara celebrations .
The girl, from a nomadic family in Kalaburagi, had come to Mysuru during Dasara to sell balloons and toys. Her family was living in temporary tents near Doddakere Maidan. Though she went to sleep along with her parents and family members, she was found missing in the early hours of Thursday. Later, her body was found near Doddakere Maidan.
The accused, Karthik was was later nabbed in Kollegal. While being brought back to Mysuru, he tried to escape and attacked the police with a bottle. The police fired warning shots in the air, and when he didn’t stop, they fired at his leg. He was later taken to KR Hospital for treatment. He had been earlier sentenced in another case of attempted rape as well.
The BJP said these incidents show the total collapse of law and order under the Siddaramaiah government.
Ravikumar said that drugs are being sold in Mysuru freely. “What is the police department doing? Over 2,300 farmers have committed suicide in the state. Seven government employees have taken their own lives. A librarian from Kalaburagi and a water department employee from Chamarajanagar ended their lives because they had not received their salaries,” he added.
“Choosing your successor can come later — first, solve all these burning issues. When such crimes are happening in the CM’s own backyard, what safety can the rest of Karnataka expect,” Ravikumar questioned.
Rohini Swamy, Associate Editor at News18, has been a journalist for nearly two decades in the television and digital space. She covers south India for News18’s digital platform. She has previously worked with t…Read More
Rohini Swamy, Associate Editor at News18, has been a journalist for nearly two decades in the television and digital space. She covers south India for News18’s digital platform. She has previously worked with t… Read More
October 24, 2025, 16:26 IST
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