Gang attempts to rape Dalit woman after beating up husband at Karnataka Home Minister's village

SHIVAMOGGA: A gang allegedly attempted to rape a Dalit woman after beating up her husband on Monday night at Araga, the native village of Home Minister Araga Jnanendra, in Thirthahalli taluk.

According to a complaint lodged by the 26-year-old woman at Thirthahalli police station, they had gone to Thirthahalli to purchase medicine as her husband was suffering from a health problem. As the doctor was unavailable, the couple bought medicine based on the old prescription and returned to Araga village.

The couple got off the bus at around 9 pm and walked towards their home. The accused, identified as Sampath, Adarsh and two other unidentified men, stopped the couple and started beating up the woman’s husband who fell unconscious.

Later, the accused dragged the woman to a rubber plantation, disrobed her and attempted to rape her. The woman screamed for help. Her husband regained consciousness and also screamed for help. The accused then ran away from the spot after issuing a rape threat to the woman.

The police booked the accused under IPC sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354a (sexual harassment), 354B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) and 506 (criminal intimidation). The accused have also been booked for atrocities under section 3 of the SC and ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989.

While some reports suggested that the police delayed the registration of the FIR even though the incident occurred two days back, Superintendent of Police B M Laxmi Prasad clarified that there was no delay. “The incident occurred on May 9. The couple did not file a complaint on Tuesday. The complaint was lodged today (Wednesday) and we registered the case the same day,” the SP said.