G. Subramanya, chairman of Chikkamagaluru Child Welfare Committee (CWC), has alleged that the Sringeri police committed mistakes “deliberately” while registering an FIR on the alleged rape of a minor girl in Sringeri taluk to help the accused.
The girl was allegedly raped by several men over the past four months. The Sringeri police registered a case on Saturday against 17 people, including the girl’s aunt. The police allegedly delayed registering the case and wrongly mentioned the committee’s chairman as the complainant.
CWC chairman G. Subramanya said the police had information about the rape much before the committee received any details of it. “The locals had informed the police, but they delayed taking action. They took the girl to a Santhwana Kendra in Sringeri on Thursday itself. As per the norms, the police should have informed the CWC before taking the girl to the centre,” he said.
The case was brought to the notice of the CWC only on Saturday, when its women members spoke to the girl and collected information about the incident. “I then wrote to the Child Development Project Officer of Sringeri to file a complaint with the police and get it registered. The police registered the FIR based on my letter to the CDPO, treating me as the complainant though I had not filed a complaint,” he said.
The CWC chief has brought this issue to the notice of the Superintendent of Police of Chikkamagaluru. “Ideally, the police should have taken a complaint from the CDPO,” he said.
When The Hindu contacted the SP, Akshay M. Hakay, he said he was not aware of the alleged police mistakes.
The Sringeri police have arrested two more persons in connection with the case, taking the total number of those arrested to eight. Mr. Hakay said efforts were on to nab the remaining accused.
The incident
The victim had been staying with her aunt in a village near Sringeri. Her aunt was working in a stone crushing unit in Sringeri. When her hunt could not go to work because of health problems, the girl went instead. There she came in contact with Girish, who allegedly raped her in September 2020.
Mr. Subramanya said Girish later took the girl to another accused, Abhi. Both allegedly took photographs of the girl in compromising positions. “Later, they forced the girl to have sex with many people. Whenever she refused to cooperate with them, the accused threatened her of posting the photographs on social media,” he said.
The girl had even allegedly informed her aunt about the incident, but she did not file a complaint but only told the accused not to repeat their actions.
