Dalit girl gangraped for three nights in Karnataka

Bengaluru: In a shocking display of brutality, a Dalit woman was kidnapped, kept in confinement and gang raped by three men over a period of two days and three nights. The incident, which came to light on Tuesday evening, took place in Chikkabalapur district.

District police swung into action the same evening and began a massive hunt for the four men. All of the accused had been arrested by Wednesday morning and booked under section 376 2(G)of the IPC and section 3 (1) (xii) in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. 22 year old Girish, who is a labourer in a cargo company, is the victim’s alleged lover. His three friends are Shiv Kumar (20), Shashidhar (22)  - both men are auto-rickshaw drivers and Ramesh Babu (18), a carpenter. All the four are said to be residents of Chikkabalapur.

Police said Girish had befriended the victim a few days ago. The two began keeping in touch over the phone and on Friday, he called the young woman to meet him in person. She arrived at the designated spot and found his three friends instead. She asked them where Girish was and they took her to a house in Dinnehalli, where she was confined. They raped her in turns for three nights. However, they ran out of luck on Sunday night, when their auto was stopped by a beat policeman who had grown suspicious at the sight of three men traveling with a woman. “Ramesh Babu and Shashidhar fled the spot, while Shiv Kumar was taken to the police station,” said a senior police officer.

On Sunday night, however, the victim insisted that no wrong had been done to her , saying the three men were her friends. “She even gave a written statement to that effect,” said the officer. Realising something was amiss, the sub-inspector kept Shiv Kumar in custody hoping to question him further, while the victim was sent to an NGO where she received counseling. “On Tuesday night,” said the officer, “members of the NGO came to the police station and filed a gangrape complaint.”

The officer added, “On Sunday night the survivor denied any wrong doing and gave a written statement saying that three men were her friends. But, realizing something amiss, the sub-inspector kept Shivkumar in police custody to question him further while the woman was sent to a NGO where when she was counseled by NGO people she narrated the horror. On Tuesday night at 8 pm, she along with NGO members came to police station and filed a gang rape complaint.”

All four accused caught in 14 hours
A special team was formed on Tuesday evening, when the complaint was filed. All four accused were accused within 14 hours of the incident being brought to light. Shiv Kumar was arrested first, at around 3 am on Wednesday morning, while the other two were caught four hours later, based on the information he provided. Another team arrested Girish based on inputs given by the victim and through his mobile phone records. Girish was apprehended at around 11 am.

In her statement to the police, the survivor said that Girish was involved in the gang-rape as he knew her location. However, the three arrested denied having any sort of alliance with him. The probe is on and all four accused are being questioned, said police.