Karnataka ‘moral policing’ case takes new turn as woman alleges gang rape

The case of “moral policing” in Karnataka’s Haveri district, which came to light on Thursday (January 11), took a new turn later in the day when the woman alleged that she was kidnapped by the group and gang-raped.

The alleged incident took place at Hangal in Haveri district, some 370 km from Bengaluru, on January 7. A gang of six men allegedly forced their way into a lodge room and beat up an interfaith couple. Two of them were arrested on Thursday.

Moral policing

The 26-year-old woman, who is married, belongs to a minority community. She has reportedly been in a relationship with a KSRTC driver aged 40 for three years. According to the police, when the couple entered the hotel at 1 pm on January 7, they were spotted by an auto driver.

Seeing the woman clad in a burqa with a man from another community, he alerted the gang of local boys who also belong to the minority community. Within 15 minutes, six men aged between 23 and 26 years arrived at the hotel. They allegedly barged into the hotel room, beat up the couple, and eventually dragged them out of the room, filming the entire episode in separate videos, which were circulated on social media platforms.

Not mere thrashing

It was initially reported that the gang drove the couple to an isolated place, about a kilometre from the hotel. There, they thrashed the couple and thereafter let the woman go. She reportedly left for Sirsi in North Kanara district, where her husband lives.

However, she complained through a video later on Thursday that after she and the man were forcibly picked up from the hotel and taken to a deserted area, they were not only brutally assaulted but she was gang-raped by the youths.

Later, the youths told her to sit in the car, and its driver also allegedly raped her. According to her video statement, they drove her to two or three other places, too, and repeatedly gang-raped her. Only after that did the accused take her to the national highway from where she boarded a bus.

“I want the accused to be punished,” she urged in the video in an apparent plea to the police. Police officials confirmed that her husband had also complained that his wife was raped by the youths.

Statement recorded

So far, the police have lodged an FIR based on the complaint of the room boy of the hotel and lodged an assault case and one on outraging the modesty of a woman under Sections 354 and 354 (B) of IPC. After the video was released, Haveri SP Anshukumar Srivastava said based on her video statement, a case will be registered and an investigation will be conducted.

“When the FIR was registered, the issue of gang rape had not come up. Now that the victim has explained the incident, her statement will be recorded, and strict action will be taken against the accused,” Srivastava said.

A local police officer said the woman had already gone to the Hangal police station and recorded her statement. She has been sent for medical examination and a rape case has been registered.

Bommai attacks CM

Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who is an MLA from Haveri, asked why Chief Minster Siddaramaiah was “silent” on the Haveri incident. “Siddaramaiah, who always spoke against moral policing, why has he kept silent about this incident? He should announce his stand in this case,” Bommai said.

Police earlier said the accused are not affiliated to any organisation and the two arrested so far do not have any criminal background. But it would need to be verified further, they said.

“We have arrested two of the gang members. The third suspect has been hospitalised since he met with an accident a day after the alleged incident. Once he is discharged, he will be taken into custody. We have already identified the remaining three suspects and they will also be nabbed soon. Our team has been trying to trace them. We also have video evidence of the assault,” a police officer was quoted by PTI as saying.

(With agency inputs)