Karnataka moral policing victim claims gang-rape by vigilantes, demands police action

Haveri, (Karnataka) Jan 11 (IANS) In an alarming development, a victim of moral policing released a video on Thursday in which she said that she was repeatedly gang-raped by vigilantes in Haveri district of Karnataka.

The homemaker was dragged out of a hotel after being seen with a person from another religion and beaten up in Hangal town on January 8.

The victim who belongs to the minority community stated that, when she was at the hotel, a gang of five to six men barged inside, questioned her and took her on their bikes forcibly.

They took her to an isolated place and assaulted her brutally and later, all of them raped her. Later, they asked her to sit in a car and the driver also raped her.

Her ordeal did not end here. She was taken to two to three places and gang-raped. The accused later took her to a National Highway and she got on a bus.

“I want them to be punished,” she demanded in the video in an appeal to the police.

The husband of the victim has also come before the media and stated that his wife was gang-raped by the gang of vigilantes.

“They had kidnapped and inhumanly attacked my wife. She had opened up about this brutality with one of the family members. She had not told me,” he stated.

Reacting to the development, Haveri SP, Anshu Kumar Srivastava, stated that based on the video statement by the victim, a case would be filed and investigated.

Earlier, the woman had gone to the police station in Hangal and made a statement before senior officers and policewomen.

“The gang-rape matter was not reported at that time. Now that she has come out and narrated the incident her statement would be recorded and stringent action would be initiated in the case,” Srivastava stated.