 "After Kolkata, now Bengaluru horror: How hitching a ride led to 21-year-old’s rape")
Days after the horrific rape and death of a medic in West Bengal, another incidence of sexual assault has surfaced, raising serious questions about women’s safety in the country.
In the early hours of Sunday, August 18, a 21-year-old college student in Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru was sexually assaulted by an unidentified male.
Bengaluru police are on the lookout for the rapist.
The incident
According to initial reports, the event happened on Sunday, August 18, in the vicinity of Hosur Main Road, within the boundaries of the HSR Layout Police Station, between 1 and 1.30 am.
Senior officers, according to PTI, said that the survivor, who was travelling home to Hebbagodi from a social gathering in Koramangala, sought a lift from the suspect riding a two-wheeler.
The South First outlet quoted police sources as saying, “She (the victim) had been to one of the pubs in Koramangala. While returning home, she met with an accident and hitched a ride on a two-wheeler, leaving behind her vehicle.”
“She was intoxicated. The unknown assailant took her to HSR Layout and sexually assaulted her,” the sources said.
Additional Commissioner of Police (East Zone) Raman Gupta said, “The suspect, instead of going to the designated place, took a detour to an isolated location and tried to rape her.”
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More Shorts“The survivor has been admitted to a private hospital and is undergoing treatment. Her condition is stable. Further investigation is on.”
HSR Layout Police have registered a case under Section 64 (punishment for rape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Friends come to rescue
According to the Deccan Herald, which quoted a ‘well-placed’ source, one of the survivor’s friends received an emergency message and a location while her phone remained unreachable.
She then informed another friend who reached the spot and found the survivor in distress.
In the meantime, a friend of the survivor also reached the location, as per the report.
“They allege that they saw a person wearing only trousers, and with scratch marks on his face. He fled when they attempted to catch him. The survivor was then moved to a hospital,” the police source said.
Also read: Was the trainee doctor gang-raped at RG Kar Medical College?
Five teams formed to nab the suspect
The police have already conducted visits to the scene and interviewed both the victim and her family, according to PTI.
“There is only one suspect. The man who gave her a lift is suspected to be the rapist and our investigations are on. We gathered all the information and have formed five teams. We are carrying out the investigation further and soon the culprit will be arrested,” he added.
Further probe is underway and more details are awaited shortly.
The horrific Kolkata rape-murder case
The Bengaluru incident comes amid the tragic death of a postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College Hospital in West Bengal’s Kolkata, who was brutally raped and murdered.
The 31-year-old second-year postgrad had gone to an empty seminar room alone herself that evening to catch some sleep after working a 36-hour shift. There is no on-call room at the hospital.
The following morning, August 9, her partially clothed body was discovered there with several injuries.
The primary suspect is Sanjoy Roy, a Kolkata Police volunteer who served as a civil servant and was given access to every department while he was stationed at the police outpost at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
According to NDTV, CCTV footage showing him entering the building where the doctor’s body had been found murdered served as the basis for his arrest. A Bluetooth headset found next to the victim’s body was seen on his neck in the CCTV footage. It turned out that his phone had been linked with it.
Roy reportedly confessed to the crime shortly after police began questioning him, according to local media. He had nonchalantly informed the cops, “Hang me if you want,” according to the reports.
In connection with the case, the CBI’s investigating officials are examining the call logs and conversations of Sandip Ghosh , the former principal of the hospital.
To date, the CBI has interrogated more than 20 people concerning its inquiry, including two Kolkata Police officials, as per News18.
According to a central probe agency officer, Ghosh was questioned about his phone calls both before and after the incident when he appeared before the officers on Sunday for the third day in a row.
Rising rape incidents in India
A recent report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveals a grim picture of crimes against women in India.
In 2022, the country recorded 4,45,256 cases, which means 51 cases every hour.
With inputs from agencies
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