Bengaluru: A seventh-semester engineering student at a private college in South Bengaluru was allegedly raped by a 21-year-old classmate of the same institution inside a men’s washroom on the campus on October 10. Police said the accused, a sixth-semester student, was arrested on Wednesday and remanded to judicial custody after the survivor filed a complaint on October 15.
The First Information Report (FIR) states that the accused and the survivor were classmates and knew each other. The survivor had reportedly met the accused to collect some belongings on the day the incident took place.
Police have registered a case under Section 64 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with punishment for rape, and the investigation is underway.
The incident has triggered strong political reactions, especially from the opposition BJP, which has accused the ruling Congress government of failing to maintain law and order in Karnataka.
R Ashoka, the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, said in a statement posted on social media: “The law and order in Karnataka has collapsed. In just four months, there have been 979 sexual assaults on girls. Bengaluru alone has reported over 114 cases. Our women and children are living in fear due to the state government’s criminal inaction. From the brutal rape and murder of a tribal girl in Mysuru to the tragic suicide of a librarian in Kalaburagi – this is a moral and administrative failure.”
He said that he has written a letter to the National Commission for Women (NCW), requesting it to send a fact-finding team to Karnataka.
“The BJP will not stay silent while our sisters and daughters are unsafe. The government must answer for this breakdown and act swiftly to ensure the safety and security of our women and children,” Ashoka said.
