Haveri: Karnataka Police have added charges of 'gangrape' in a moral police case wherein an interfaith couple have been allegedly attacked by a septet following a sexual assault complaint that cropped up when the victim, a senior police said on Friday.
The seven allegedly barged into a hotel room and attacked the interfaith couple while they were staying in Karnataka's Haveri district.
The allegation came to light when the woman recorded her statement before a magistrate here.
Three persons have been arrested by the police in connection with the moral policing, which was reported to have happened on January 8, the police official said.
Gangrape charges-"On Thursday afternoon, the victim's statement was recorded in front of a magistrate wherein she alleged that she was gang raped by seven men who also abused and assaulted her. So, based on her claim, we have added section 376 D (gangrape) to the existing FIR. We have arrested three men in connection with the incident so far," the police officer added.
All suspects identified- "Another suspect is hospitalised due to an accident he met a day after the alleged incident. So, once he is discharged, he will be taken into custody. Our teams are trying to trace the remaining suspects in the case. We have identified all of them," he said.
Efforts on to arrest all- Earlier, the woman alleged that there were six men involved in the attack, and later she also mentioned other suspects who were accomplices to the gang, so the police are in the process of securing all those involved in the act, police sources said.
What happened? According to the police, on January 8, at 1 pm, a 26-year-old married woman belonging to a minority community checked into a hotel room with a KSRTC driver aged 40, with whom she has been in a relationship for the past three years.
Gang recorded video- The gang ensured that they recorded the entire assault which unfolded inside the hotel room. The videos were later shared in the social media. It is widely circulated on all social media platforms.
The video- In one of the videos, six men were seen knocking on the door of a room. Soon after a man opens the door, the assailants let themselves in pushing away the man who opened the door and rush towards the woman. The gang was heard hurling a volley of verbal abuses on the couple besides assaulting them. They kept filming the woman while she was trying to cover her face with a burqa she had.
How the gang got to know? Police said the couple were spotted by an auto rickshaw driver, who identified them as an interfaith couple. On the sight of the woman being clad in burqa with a man from another community, he rang in the local gang of men who were also part of the minority community.
"The gang then barged into the hotel room and began their attack on the couple, who were eventually dragged out of the room," a senior police officer privy to the investigation said.
Kidnap & gangrape- The gang that had three motorcycles with them took away the couple to an secluded spot which was about a kilometre away from the hotel. There they gave a sound thrashing to the couple. The woman was abused and was hit with sticks, the police official said.
The official quoted the woman as having been gangraped by the gang which took her away.
The gang handed her ₹500 and asked her to rush back to her native place. The woman had returned to Sirsi where husband is from, the police official said.
Not organised- The official also clarified that the suspects were not part of any organisation. "At the moment, there are no adverse complaints or criminal records against the said group. We will verify it further," the police official said.
Besides gangrape, other IPC sections included in the FIR are those pertaining to kidnap and assault. (with PTI inputs)
