The Karnataka Police have arrested six persons, including two women, on charges of repeatedly raping a 16-year-old girl in Bengaluru, police said on Friday, March 11. The police said the 16-year-old girl was repeatedly raped for six days. The police have lodged cases under the Protection of Children from the Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), kidnapping, human trafficking, rape, prostitution and threat to life threat against the accused persons.
The two women, who were tailors, who were arrested have been identified as Kalavathi (52), a resident of Agara and Rajeshwari (50), a resident of Bandepalya in Bengaluru. Others who have also been arrested include Keshavamurthy (47), a deputy manager at an automobile company in Hosur; Satyaraju (43), a resident of Koramangala; Sharath (38), a resident of Yelahanka, and Rafeeq (38) from Begur.
The survivor’s parents reportedly work as labourers, and according to the Times of India, the girl’s mother filed the complaint to the police after she noticed her daughter’s health deteriorating. The accused Rajeshwari ran a tailoring shop in the area and the survivor would reportedly go there after school to learn tailoring.
“I was resting in the house and my parents had gone out for work. Rajeshwari came to my house saying my mother was waiting for me and took me to her house. There, she gave me fruit juice. After drinking that I fell unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying on a bed and there were blood stains on my legs and other parts of my body,” the girl told TOI.
Rajeshwari then allegedly threatened the girl against telling anyone about the incident. Two days later, Rajeshwari then allegedly took her to Kalavathi’s house, where she was allegedly raped by several men over four days.
The girl’s mother, upon noticing blood stains on her daughter's clothes and seeing her reluctance to go to Rajeshwari for her tailoring lessons, grew suspicious. Upon learning about the crime, the mother then lodged a police complaint with the HSR Layout police station on March 6. The police formed four teams and nabbed the accused in 36 hours. According to TOI, Rajeshwari and Kalavathi fled when they received information about the complaint. However, police were able to nab them in the outskirts on March 7.
With IANS inputs