Labourer raped by man who offered to drop her to sister’s village

BENGALURU: A 25-year-old Dalit woman suffering from nutritional deficiency was allegedly raped by a 40-year-old man at Kuntanahalli village near Doddaballapura on Thursday morning.
The accused, identified as Chennakeshava, a resident of Kuntanahalli and employee of a private factory, has been detained. “We picked up the accused on Friday after we received a complaint from the woman. We will produce him before the court once we complete the arrest procedure,” a senior police officer said.

Police said the woman, a daily-wage labourer and resident of a village near Doddaballapura, was suffering from ailments resulting from nutritional deficiency. She was undergoing treatment at Nutritional Club, Doddaballapura.

On Thursday, the woman walked from her village to Doddaballapura, 5km away. After the treatment, she decided to visit her sister who stays in another village nearby. She boarded a bus to Aralumallige and began walking from there when the accused accosted her around 10.30am and offered to drop her on his TVS XL moped.

However, Chennakeshava steered his vehicle towards a eucalyptus grove. The woman sensed something amiss and asked him to stop. When Chennakeshava did not heed her request, she jumped off the vehicle. The accused lost control over the vehicle and fell. He chased the woman, caught her, dragged her into the grove, assaulted her physically and allegedly raped her.

The woman managed to reach her sister’s home after the incident and lodged a complaint with Doddaballapura Rural police. Chennakeshava has been booked for rape, assault and also under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.