Haveri gang rape case: CM says all accused held; BJP demands SIT probe
Siddaramaiah said his government will not allow anyone to take law into their hands irrespective of the faith and caste they belong to
Karnataka BJP chief BY Vijayendra on Monday demanded a probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into the alleged gang rape incident in Haveri district and arrest of all accused even as chief minister Siddaramaiah said there was no question of sparing anyone involved in the case.
Vijayendra alleged that the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government is not taking the Haveri gang rape incident seriously. “What is happening in our state is very unfortunate. The Haveri gang rape incident happened on January 7, and it came to light on January 10. Police have been unable to catch all the accused till now, and even the government is not taking this incident seriously. It is evident that the state government is trying to hide many facts in this case,” he told reporters.
“The BJP’s only demand is to constitute an SIT (Special Investigation Team) and let them take up this case. The culprits need to be behind the bars soon,” he added.
A Muslim woman was allegedly raped by six men from the same community at Hangal in Haveri.
Siddaramaiah said the BJP has alleged that attempts are being made to hush up the case. “We have arrested all the accused persons. Investigation is going on. We will not allow anyone to take law into their hands irrespective of the faith and caste they belong to,” the chief minister told reporters.
Regarding the BJP’s demand for setting up a special investigation team (SIT), Siddaramaiah said that those investigating the case now are police and those who will be part of the SIT will be police only.
“Investigations are going on. Let the preliminary investigation report come out. Just because former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has demanded an SIT probe, we will not form it,” the chief minister said.
Meanwhile, the Hangal police have arrested two additional suspects in connection with the gang rape case, bringing the total number of arrests to seven individuals. According to the police, all the individuals named in the first information report (FIR) have now been taken into custody. The arrests follow the inclusion of gang rape charges in the FIR after the wpman, who had previously filed a statement, appeared before a magistrate last week.
The woman , having recorded her statement, has returned to her village in Sirsi taluk, demanding stringent action against the accused.
In her statement to the police, the woman recounted the traumatic incident where she was deceived into taking a bike ride, supposedly to a bus stand, but was instead taken to a forest area. There, she was assaulted by several individuals, with three of them taking turns raping her. Subsequently, she was transported to another location where four men assaulted her.
The woman expressed frustration with the police, accusing them of delaying the arrest of the main culprits, claiming that the two individuals seen in a video were among those who assaulted her, but the police detained others not involved in the case.
Initially categorised as a moral policing case on January 10, the police altered their stance when the woman alleged gang rape. Her subsequent appearance before a magistrate led to additional sections of the Indian Penal Code being appended to the FIR.
With a total of seven individuals now in custody, the police are conducting interrogations to gather information about others who might have been present during the incident.