Kolar assault case: Investigating officer removed after allegations of diluting charge

The three teen girls and their family members who were assaulted are currently receiving treatment at a government hospital in Bengaluru.
Three girls
Three girls
Written by:
The investigation officer in charge of the case where three girls and several members of the girls’ family were assaulted in Karnataka’s Kolar district has been transferred. The investigation has been handed to another police official, the Superintendent of Police confirmed to TNM. 
 
Earlier, on September 4, three girls — who are in their late teens — were attacked by the parents of two boys who, according to two of the girls’ families, used to harass them on the bus every day on their way to college. Two days earlier, on September 2, one of the victims, Revathi (name changed) had told her brother Vikram that the two boys had been harassing her and he had gone into the bus to warn the two boys.
 
Vikram, speaking to TNM, had said that he along with his two other brothers Mohan* and *Sharan had entered the bus to warn the two harassers and the two boys, according to Vikram, tried to hit him. On September 4, visuals surfaced where the two boys’ mothers were seen pulling the girl’s hairs and hitting them. According to Vikram, when Revathi’s informed her brother about the situation, he along with his father and other family members arrived at the spot to try and break up the fight. However, he alleged that a mob of around 50 from the boys’ village hit all of them with sticks.
 
Currently, the girls’ and their family members who were assaulted are receiving treatment in a government hospital in Bengaluru.
 
The then Investigating Officer and Kolar Deputy Superintendent of Police had told TNM that the issue was to be seen as a fight between two groups of students and not as harassment citing that a girl was also a part of the group with the two boys.
 
When TNM contacted the Kolar Superintendent of Police to verify whether the Investigation officer had been changed, he confirmed the fact and said that the investigation was handed over to an Additional Superintendent of Police. However, when asked about the reason, he said that it was better for a senior officer to handle the probe and refused to elaborate.
 
Speaking to TNM, a local Dalit leader said, “In the incident on September 4, there were many instances of police inefficiency in the matter. When we asked the DSP about the matter, he was very arrogant and the way he described the incident as a clash between two students’ groups was not convincing to us. So, we demanded a change of the Investigating Officer.”
 
Speaking to TNM, Mahesh*, the father of one of the girls who was assaulted, who is also receiving treatment in Bengaluru, alleged that the police had initially not given any protection to them when they were in the Srinivasapura General Hospital at Kolar. He further said that after two days of the attack, the police finally started sending one police constable to the hospital, however, Mahesh said that the police constables used to come at 10 am and go back at 6 or 7 pm leaving them unprotected the entire night.
 
Also, Mahesh alleged that the DSP had visited them in the hospital and said things such as, “We are the ones who will stay with you till the end, not the organizations and not the media. So, we need to be cooperative with each other,” before he proceeded to give a statement that the clash was between two groups.
 
(Names changed to protect identity)

Related Stories

No stories found.
The News Minute
www.thenewsminute.com