A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by two men in separate incidents in Belthangady taluk on Monday.
The police arrested both the accused on Tuesday.
In her statement to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), the girl said she was raped by her friend’s husband, Santosh (42), when she went to their house on Monday. She said she was locked inside the house and sexually abused.
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The girl said she managed to escape from the house and stopped the car of an acquaintance, Jagadish (25), who was passing by.
Though he told her that he would drop her home, he took her to an isolated spot and raped her, she said.
The family had filed a missing person complaint with the Belthangady police on Monday. Around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, when the family was searching for the girl, they spotted Jagadish returning with her. The police said that he was assaulted by the girl’s family and friends.
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Asha Nayak, CWC chairperson, said the girl was produced before the CWC only at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. The delay flouted procedures, she said.
Denying this, Shantanu Sinha, Superintendent of Police, said: “The procedures have been followed. The police, being the first responder, had to protect the victim and in a situation like this, even protect the accused.”