Now, two-year-old child raped in Bengaluru

The city was jolted on Monday with news of another child being raped even as an embattled Karnataka government announced a special fund for victims of child abuse.

The city was jolted on Monday with news of another child being raped even as an embattled Karnataka government announced a special fund for victims of child abuse.

The victim, barely two years old, was sexually assaulted by her 29-year-old neighbour when she was playing on the street outside her house on Sunday. This is the seventh case involving the rape of a child reported since the July 2 incident where a six-year-old was raped by her teachers on campus.

The accused in this case, identified as Suresh, an office assistant, lured the child behind an auto rickshaw parked right outside her house. The child raised an alarm which brought her mother rushing out. Suresh fled the scene but was nabbed by police and booked under various sections of the POCSO Act and the IPC.

DCP KS Rohini said that a medical test had confirmed that the child had been abused but escaped from major injury.

The state government, on the back foot since July, has announced a children’s fund for victims of sexual abuse. The fund, mandated by the Juvenile Justice Act of
2000, had not been set up until now. Under the scheme, victims under the age of 18 can avail up to Rs 5 lakh for medical treatment and rehabilitation. The Congress government has come under increasing pressure with each reported case of rape and the opposition is leading the charge by demanding the resignation of state home minister KJ George.

State women and child welfare minister Umashree said on Monday, “We will recommend to the central government to award capital punishment to rapists.”

With agency inputs