A 20-year-old National Law School student was allegedly gang-raped in the Jnanabharathi campus on Saturday night.
The victim, who hails from Nepal, was reportedly with her boyfriend when a gang of eight accosted them, close to her hostel.
According to police, the gang waylaid them off the main road in an attempted robbery. The victim had gone out of the hostel around 8 pm with her friend Nirmal, an IBM employee. On their way back, Nirmal parked the car on a secluded stretch and they walked along the road. The gang struck around 9.30 pm and demanded money from them. When Nirmal told his wallet was in the car, they held the girl captive and asked him to get the money. The gang later dragged her into a thickly wooded area nearby and raped her.
A case has been registered in Jnanabharathi police station. P3 police station. At a time when the series of rapes in Haryana are making headlines across the nation, the rape of a law student on the Jnanabharathi campus here has shocked Bengaluru. An inebriated gang of eight men accosted a 20-year-old student of National law School in Nagarabhavi and allegedly raped her. While the city police refused to confirm the rape till they receive the medical reports, they did admit there was an attempt to outrage the modesty of the student, who hails from Nepal.
According to the complaint with the Jnanabharathi police, the victim has been pursuing her law degree at the National Law School and stays at the college hostel. On Saturday, she left the hostel around 8 pm along with her friend Nirmal, a resident of Banashankari. Sources said they had become friends through a social networking website and, on Saturday, they moved around the University campus and were driving back to the hostel.
“As per the complaint, they came on Jnanabharathi main road and took a turn on a stretch which leads to the hostel.
Apparently, Nirmal stopped the car and they walked into the wooded area off the road. As they walked around 4 km off the road, the gang accosted them and
demanded money. This stretch is closed for movement between 9 pm and 6 am. The victim and her friend seemed to have entered the stretch before 9 pm on Saturday,” a senior police official said, who said the gang had also smashed the window pane of Nirmal’s VolksWagen car, which was parked on the main road.
According to the complaint, when Nirmal told the attackers his wallet was in the car, the
accused held the victim and asked him to get the money. The gang also snatched Nirmal's mobile phone and iPad. Police said Nirmal walked till the main road and found no one upon his return. He again came back to the main road when he encountered a night beat constable. According to police, Nirmal explained to the constable about the robbery and sought his help in locating his friend. They ventured into the densely-wooded area and searched for over an hour, but did not find her and returned to the main road.
The victim stated that she was taken deep inside the forest area and let off around 11 pm. The gang had snatched away her mobile phone, but returned it to her while leaving the place. The victim stated that she called up for help at the hostel and reached the hostel around 12 midnight.
Senior police officials, including DCP (West) Sidramappa, rushed to the spot in the nighst and shifted the victim to Vani Vilas Hospital.
According to police, the victim was again taken to the hospital on Sunday morning.
“ It's a shocking incident and should be con demned. The police and university authorities have failed to make the BU Jnanabharathi campus free of such incidents.
So far, only northern states were blamed for such crimes, but even in Karnataka, women are not safe. The Women's Commission must summon every stakeholder so that, in future, such incidents do not take place“ -Ms Prameela Nesargi, former chairperson, State Women's Commission She was treated as out-patient: Doctors Doctors at Vani Vilas Hospital, where the rape victim was admitted for medical examination, said the girl was treated as an out-patient and there were no serious injuries. “There was no particular sign of rape and such violation. She has only minor casual abrasion on the leg. The samples will be sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) on Monday for further tests,“ said a hospital source.