BENGALURU: The 19-year-old survivor of the Suddaguntepalya groping case on April 3, filed a complaint against Lokesh Gowda, 55, a resident of 1st Cross, Bharathi Layout in Suddaguntepalya, for posting a video of the crime on social media and making it public.
Suddaguntepalya police registered a case under Section 66e of the Information Technology Act, which pertains to intentional or knowing capture, publication, or transmission of images of a person’s private area without consent, in violation of their privacy.
The case against Lokesh was registered on Tuesday. The woman, who resides in a PG accommodation on Tavarekere Main Road, alleged in her complaint that Gowda had posted the video on his Facebook account without her consent.
“The case was registered on Tuesday. Lokesh is yet to be arrested, and the section under which the case is registered is bailable,” said a police officer.
It may be recalled that Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara faced a massive backlash for his remark that “such incidents tend to happen here and there in a big city like Bengaluru” in connection with the groping case.
Ten days after the incident, police arrested 26-year-old Santhosh Daniel from Kozhikode district, Kerala. He was tracked after reviewing footage from over 700 CCTVs, tracing his movements across Karnataka and neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Santhosh, a resident of Gulbarga Colony in Tilak Nagar, initially took shelter in Hosur before travelling to Kozhikode via Salem. He worked as a test driver at an imported car showroom in Whitefield. A native of Thally in Hosur, he lived with his mother and brother, an auto driver.
The crime took place at 1.52 am on April 3 on 1st Cross, Bharathi Layout, Suddaguntepalya. Based on the video, police had filed a complaint on April 6 by a 55-year-old Gowda, who resides on the same street. A case was registered against Santhosh under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections for sexual harassment (BNS 75), stalking (BNS 78), and using criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty (BNS 74).