Seven men who allegedly barged into a hotel room and assaulted a Muslim woman and Hindu man who had checked in together in Haveri district of Karnataka have been charged with gangrape, based on a complaint by the victim woman who said that they sexually assaulted her, reports PTI.
Besides gangrape, the accused have also been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including kidnap and assault.
Police said three men, who belong to a minority community, have been arrested in the moral policing incident that took place on January 8.
“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,” a senior police officer said, as quoted by PTI.
“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.
The woman had earlier alleged that there were six men, and later mentioned other accomplices, following which police is trying to nab them.
Police said that the 26-year-old married Muslim woman, checked into the hotel room on January 8 at 1 PM, along with a 40-year-old man, who is a KRTC driver. She claims that they have been in a relationship for the last three years.
Purported videos of the incident showed that the couple was assaulted inside the hotel room, and the entire incident was also filmed by the accused. The video went viral online.
According to police, when the couple entered the hotel, they were spotted by an auto-rickshaw driver. Seeing the woman clad in a burqa with a man from another community, he immediately alerted the gang of local men who also belonged to the minority community.
The accused men then allegedly barged into the hotel room and assaulted them, and eventually dragged them outside the room.
The gang who arrived on three motorcycles drove the couple to an isolated place which was about a kilometer away from the hotel. Upon reaching there, they started thrashing the couple. They also abused the woman and hit her with sticks, the police officer said. The woman alleged that she was gang-raped by them.
The accused men then gave her Rs 500, and asked her to go her native place, where her husband lives.
The accused members are not affiliated to any outfit, police said, adding that those arrested so far do not have any criminal background, but that needs to be verified.
Following the incident, Karnataka Director General of Police Alok Mohan said that the action will be initiated against the accused, while State Home Minister G Parameshwar said that there are standard instructions to curtain such incidents, and law will be followed in the case.
The communally sensitive coastal Karnataka region often witnesses such moral policing cases. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, after taking charge as the Chief Minister of the state, vowed to put an end to such incidents.