Four persons have been arrested in connection with the shocking incident of a 17-year-old girl being allegedly kept in confinement for 46 days and gang-raped in Shivamogga.
The victim, hailing from Bengluru, and studying for her Pre-university course in Kolar, was allegedly lured away by two autorickshaw drivers on the pretext of helping her as she was waiting at the railway station. The girl had fled from her home in Bengaluru after she had differences with her mother, it is learnt.
While the four have been arrested on the charge of wrongful confinement of the victim, the two main accused —Shahrukh and Toufiq — are at large.
Superintendent of Police Abhinav Khare told presspersons that the victim had left her home on September 7 and boarded a train to reach Shivamogga city in the evening. At the railway station, on seeing the girl weeping, Shahrukh, an autorickshaw driver, said she could take refuge in his house. He took her to Sakrebailu village near here, with his friends Toufiq and Amzad.
The victim told the police that Shahrukh and Toufiq raped her at a vacant site on the outskirts of Sakrebailu and later took her to Amzad’s house in Sakrebailu. The next day, they shifted her to the house of Parveen Banu, sister of Amzad at Imam Bada locality in the city.
Acting on a tip-off, the police raided the house and rescued the girl. The victim is with the Santhwana Centre, which is run by the Department of Women and Child Development. Medical test has confirmed that the victim was gang-raped, he said.
Cases have been booked under Section 342 (wrongful confinement) of the IPC against Amzad, Parveen Banu, her husband Mohammed Yusuf and Mubarak, a relative. All the four have been arrested. Cases have been booked under Section 376 (rape) and 370 (sexual exploitation) of the IPC and under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against Shahrukh and Toufiq. A manhunt is on to nab them.
Meanwhile, a delegation of BJP leaders met Mr. Khare on Monday and demanded the immediate arrest of the accused. Condemning the incident, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad has called for a protest in the city on October 26.
