Karnataka girl’s gang rape comes to light after video goes viral, five college students arrested

The police Wednesday detained five college students for their alleged involvement in gang raping a college girl in Puttur area of Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka. The incident had taken place in February or March this year and came to light after the video of the incident recently went viral on social media.

The arrested have been identified as Gurunandan, Sunil, Prakyath, Kishan and Prajwal, who are students of Vivekananda college. They have been charged under Section 341 (wrongful restraint) and 376(d) (gang rape) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the IT Act.

The girl belongs to the Schedule Tribes community and is said to be the daughter of a gram panchayat member.

The police, who on Wednesday registered a suo moto case after the videos went viral, also warned citizens that sharing these clips was an offence.

Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police BM Laxmi Prasad said sharing the clips will amount to a criminal offence under 354(c) of IPC (voyeurism) and provisions of the IT act and people, including group admins, will be arraigned as accused under the sections.

“We don’t know about the exact date of the incident. According to the girl, it was sometime in February or March,” he added.

According to the police, the five students had allegedly raped the girl by taking her in their car to a forest area. They had also recorded the act and threatened the girl that the video would be shared on social media if she revealed the incident to anyone.

As the video went viral, the district police registered a case at the Puttur women’s police station and formed two teams to trace the culprits, which led to the arrests.

The five students have been suspended from the college after the police informed the authorities about the arrest. The decision was taken by the institution’s administrative board. AGENCY