Bangalore police mum on alleged gang rape of law student

Bangalore : Bangalore police Monday maintained discreet silence on the alleged gang rape of a law student a day after the victim filed a complaint against unidentified suspects, as investigation was in progress.

“The investigation is progressing incrementally. We are waiting for the medical report. No arrests were made, as suspects have not yet been identified,” Joint Commissioner of Police (West) Pronab Mohanty told IANS here.

Police Sunday registered a case under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the suspects after the 21-year-old second year student of the National Law School of India University complained that she was sexually assaulted by a gang of eight members late Saturday in the adjacent Bangalore University’s campus.

“As it is a sensitive case involving honour and dignity of a young woman, we are cautious at the investigation stage, keeping in view the Supreme Court’s observations in dealing with such cases,” Mohanty observed.

According to the complaint filed at the university’s police station, the victim, who hails from Nepal, was with her boyfriend in a secluded area in the campus when the gang, in an inebriated state, encountered them and attempted to snatch their valuables.

“When we resisted and attempted to flee from the spot, the gang encircled and threatened us. As my boyfriend had left his wallet in the car, which was parked nearby, one of the gang members accompanied him to collect it, while I was forcibly taken into a bush and sexually assaulted,” the complainant said.

Police, however, expressed reservation about the alleged incident, as the sequence of events narrated by the victim in the complaint and what she revealed during the interrogation were conflicting in the absence of evidence.

“Preliminary investigation and examination revealed that the victim had no external injuries though she claimed that she was ambushed and raped in the wooded area by the gang members,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) S.N. Siddaramappa noted.

As part of the probe, police also questioned the victim’s boyfriend, a native of Uttar Pradesh and working in a multinational IT firm in this tech hub.

“It may take a couple of days for the medical report to come, as the examination involves forensic tests of the victim, who was admitted at Vani Vilas hospital in the city in the early hours of Sunday,” Siddramappa said.