Two days after a 29-year-old woman was sent away from the police station without accepting her complaint of sexual assault, the Deputy Commissioner of Police South-east on Wednesday said disciplinary action would be taken against the erring officer.
At around 9.15 p.m. on Monday, the woman was walking to the supermarket near her house in HSR Layout when two men on a bike stopped her and sexually assaulted her. They snatched her belongings and followed her till the supermarket. They sped away after noticing people near the supermarket.
“I was completely shaken, and called my brother to pick me up,” said the woman. She and her brother went around the area on a bike, trying to find the culprits, but in vain. She went with her brother to HSR Layout police station and narrated her ordeal, but to her shock, the officials did not lodge her complaint.
“The inspector asked me not to file a complaint, saying it wasn’t good for women to be involved with courts,” said the woman.
When she requested the police to increase surveillance in the area, she was told that there were six policemen allotted to a 35 sq. km area in HSR Layout and therefore it was not possible to patrol all the roads.
It was only after DCP Boralingaiah intervened on Wednesday that an FIR was lodged. He said that investigations were on to identify the culprits.
“We used to think the neighbourhood was very safe for women. This incident has scared me to a level that I don’t think I or any family member will venture outside the house at night any more,” said the woman.
