The Special Treatment Unit for Women has registered nine cases of sexual atrocities against women and minor girls since it started functioning four months back at the District Hospital here.
The victims include girls aged below eight years, according to the unit’s counsellor Sanjota Patil. The Vijayapura centre was set up last November.
The latest case came on Thursday. An NGO brought a 24-year-old destitute believed to be from Kalgurki village of Basavanabagewadi taluk.
Doctors examining her found that she was not only mentally ill, she was also two months pregnant. The doctors have concluded that she must have been raped.
Ms. Patil said, “The woman is mentally ill and does not remember the incident or those who assaulted her. We have treated her and filed a case with the Jal Nagar police station”.
The all-woman unit is part of the government’s initiative to start such special units in all district hospitals across the State to provide comprehensive support to victims of sexual atrocities.
Each centre has a counsellor, a doctor, a policewoman and advocates and is networked with the Department of Women and Child Welfare.
