SHIVAMOGGA: A Bengaluru-based minor was allegedly gang-raped at Sakrebailu, in the outskirts of the city recently. The incident came to light after a women’s organisation, Surabhi Mahila Santwana Kendra into whose care the girl came to be, filed a complaint on Friday.
According to the complaint, the PU student was gang-raped by three persons after which three others allegedly tortured her. Police have arrested four persons in connection with the incident, while two others named in the complaint are still at large. The girl, hailing from Visvesvaraya Layout in the city was studying in Kolar. When she returned to her home in Bengaluru recently, she discovered that her mother was having an illicit affair.
Troubled by the discovery, the girl, according to the complaint, boarded a train. She got down at Shivamogga railway station and was sitting alone, when she was approached by an auto driver. The police say the gullible girl confided to the auto driver, identified as Sharuk, about her problems. The accused assured her help and took her in his auto to the bus stand, along with his friend Amzad. They ganged up with another of their friends, Taufiq, and gang-raped her near Sakrebailu, according to the complaint.
Her ordeal was not over yet, as she was then taken to Amzad’s brother-in-law Yusuf’s house. She was kept in the house by Yusuf’s wife Parvin Banu and her brother Mubaraq, who forced her to stay in the house and tortured her.
According to sources, the girl had been kept in Yusuf’s house for more than a month. The victim told the Child Welfare Committee that she was confined to the house and not allowed to venture out. She missed her menstrual period during that time, and the accused took her to a hospital for a pregnancy test, the results of which have not been disclosed.
Meanwhile, in Bengaluru, a missing-person complaint was filed by the victim’s mother. Yusuf, who learnt of the complaint, took her to the woman’s police station and handed her over saying that the girl was found at the railway station. She was admitted to Surabhi Mahila Santwana Kendra, whose staff lodged a complaint.
Geetha Shivamurthy, Chairperson of Child Welfare Committee, said the victim was the only daughter of a singl mother. “Her mother is now in Shivamogga. We will counsel them both,” she said.
“We are trying to ascertain whether the girl was in touch with any of the accused before she came to Shivamogga,” she said.
When contacted, Shivamogga Superintendent of Police Abhinav Khare said that police were investigating the issue. To a question, he said that the girl was allegedly gang-raped on September 7 and had spent close to 40 days in Shivamogga since then. “We are still investigating the case. We have arrested four persons and are yet to nab the remaining two,” he said.