Haveri hotel room moral policing: Three arrested in alleged gang rape, BJP targets Congress govt's ‘silence’

Karnataka News: The moral policing incident in Haveri that saw seven men barge into a hotel room where a 26-year old woman and a 40 year old man had checked in took a new turn when the woman had alleged that she was raped by the gang, according to media reports. 

Karnataka Police charged the seven men with gangrape, and three of them have been arrested till now. "On Thursday afternoon, the victim's statement was recorded in front of a magistrate wherein she alleged that she was gang raped by seven men who also abused and assaulted her. So, based on her claim, we have added section 376 D (gangrape) to the existing FIR. We have arrested three men in connection with the incident so far," a senior police officer said.

The Karnataka police had already nabbed two of the suspects, and a third was to be taken into custody after he recovered from an accident. However, according to an NDTV report, the police were uninformed about the rape allegations. 

The gang of men allegedly barged into a hotel room and assaulted an interfaith couple during their stay in Hanagal Taluk of Haveri district.

At 1 pm, a 26-year-old married woman who belongs to a minority community checked into the hotel room with a KSRTC driver aged 40, with whom she has been in a relationship for the past three years, according to Karnataka Police. 

The entire assault which happened inside the hotel room was filmed by the gang. The videos later became viral after they got circulated on social media platforms. 

In one of the purported videos, six men could be seen knocking on the door of a room. When a man opens the door, the assailants could be seen barging in and heading towards the woman. The gang verbally abused the couple, assaulted them and filmed the woman while she tried to cover her face with a burqa.

According to police, when the couple entered the hotel, they were spotted by an auto rickshaw driver. Seeing the woman clad in a burqa with a man from another community, he immediately alerted the gang of local men who also belonged to the minority community, reports PTI. 

The gang who arrived on three motorcycles drove the couple to an isolated place which was about a kilometer away from the hotel. 

Thereafter, the gang reportedly gave the woman ₹500 and told her to go to her native place. She later went to Sirsi where her husband lives. 

The woman released a video on Friday, a day after the incident made national headlines, and alleged that after raping her in the forest, the attackers forced her into a car and drove her around the city. "The driver also raped me," the woman said in the video.

The woman had earlier not stated about any gang rape in her recorded statement to the Karnataka Police. However, her husband has alleged that she was raped by the accused gang but he has not given a written complaint in this regard so far, the officer said.

The incident has sparked outrage, with senior BJP leaders, including former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, targeting the Congress-led state government.

Speaking on the incident, Bommai questioned the Chief Minister's silence over the matter and demanded immediate action. "Why the CM is quiet on this issue. We are going to take this very seriously and I want the police to act independently and judiciously. They should take immediate action," Bommai said.

As per the Karnataka Police FIR the accused are Aftab Makabul, Madarsab Mohammad, Samiulla and three unidentified men. Three of these men have now been arrested and the Police are on the lookout for the others. They face charges of Rape, unlawful assembly and rioting, criminal intimidation, causing hurt, and assault or criminal force against woman, with the intention to outrage their modesty. All the accused are from Akki Alur in Haveri district.