Bangalore, December 20: As the nation showed its outrage over the recent gang-rape of a girl in New Delhi, Bangalore also witnessed yet another brutal rape of a minor girl on Tuesday night. The incident came to light only on Wednesday as the family formally lodged a complaint with the Kadugodi police. The police have arrested the main accused, Ashwath, a kirana shop owner.
Raziya, 15, (name changed), lives with her family of eight in a one-room temporary shed at an under-construction building site at Patalamma Layout, Kadugodi. The family, working as construction labourers in Patalamma Layout, is from Kadubooru village, Gulbarga, and had migrated to the City three years back. On Tuesday, around 6:30 pm, Raziya went out of the house to a street corner shop to buy some condiments. However, the girl never returned till late night triggering panic among the members of the family. Her aunt Ramzan Bi told Deccan Herald that the family started searching for the girl in the area.
“We knew that the girl had gone to a street corner kirana shop. But that shop was closed. We could not find the girl anywhere. As her brother went near the shop, one of the men standing outside the shop misled us saying that the girl had gone towards the main road. However, as we returned after searching in vain, we saw that the shop's shutters were half open with lights on inside. As we went in, we saw our girl lying there half naked, with her hands and legs tied with her “duppatta.” We rescued our girl,” says Nadeem, a close relative of the girl.
Raziya said: “As I went to the shop to buy some condiments, the shop owner and his two friends teased me. When I tried to flee, two of his friends who were outside the shop pushed me and pulled the shutters down from outside. The man inside tied my hand and legs with my duppatta, stuffed some cloth into my mouth and brutally raped me.”
Raziya's father Hussain Basha lodged a complaint with the Kadugodi police on Wednesday. He alleged that Ashwath, the owner of the kirana stores SLV Enterprises, brutally raped his daughter Raziya, while his two other friends Ravi and Manju pushed her into the shop, closed down the shutters from outside and stood guard.
An emotional Hussain Basha told Deccan Herald: “My daughter had earlier also complained that the shopkeeper and his friends teased her. But we never took it seriously. Now, my daughter's life has been ruined. I will kill the fellow who has done this to my dear daughter,” he broke down.
The police have now arrested Ashwath. However, the police were trying to downplay the incident saying that it could be a case of consensual sex. T Suneel Kumar, Additional Commissioner (Law & Order), told Deccan Herald: “We have lodged the complaint and immediately arrested the main accused. We have subjected the alleged victim and the accused to medical tests at Vaidehi Hospital and reports are awaited.”
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