Mandya: In compliance with a Karnataka high court directive, Aishwarya Gowda , the daughter of Tumakuru Rural MLA Suresh Gowda, Tuesday issued a public apology to police sub-inspector (PSI) Savitha Patil for physically assaulting her at a temple last month.
The assault took place on Aug 12 during Bhimana Amavasya celebrations, which had drawn large crowds to the temple. She had approached the higher court after the III Additional District and Sessions Court in Srirangapatna rejected her bail plea after police filed a non-bailable criminal case against her and reported her as absconding.
She stated that the incident occurred “in the heat of the moment” and that she had no intention of causing pain to the police officer. When Savitha advised Aishwarya to wait a few minutes to avoid security complications, an argument ensued, according to the police complaint. The high court had ordered Aishwarya to issue an unconditional apology as a prerequisite before it could consider her bail petition. In a video statement shared on social media, Aishwarya expressed deep regret over the altercation at the Aarathi Ukkada temple in Srirangapatna taluk. PSI Savitha, who was deployed on security bandobast to regulate the movement of devotees, reportedly stopped Aishwarya when she arrived with her children and demanded immediate entry into the sanctum sanctorum. During the confrontation, Aishwarya allegedly abused and slapped the PSI. Mandya superintendent of police VJ Shobharani was unavailable for comments regarding the development.