It was a CCTV footage that shocked Bengaluru on May 2nd. Every woman who saw it shuddered. The camera on the street outside a PG accommodation in Kathriguppe, South Bengaluru, captured the man lurching in the shadows... suddenly scoop this 25-year-old North Eastern girl in his arms while she was on the phone in front of her PG... It was 9.51 pm on April 23rd. The victim has alleged that he headed to the alley nearby as she screamed for help in his clutches.
I saw that fear gripping her as the victim narrated this to me in the studio yesterday at 7pm. She was there nervously seated in front of the camera with her nose and mouth wrapped with a dupatta. I saw her eyes scanning me in fear... Understandable, after what she went through.
"It was traumatic. I screamed for help. He tried to rape me. I bit his hand and thankfully escaped to reach my PG," she said. I found her extremely thin and lanky. Almost size zero. She knew what I was thinking. "I work for a beauty clinic in Kalyan Nagar."
She was panic-stricken as she recounted the incident to the PG owner, who reportedly tried to dissuade her from filing a complaint. “Everybody around me told me not to file a complaint,” she said. The police claim that they visited the PG since she did make a distress call to 100. But with no complaint, they could do nothing.
"But I wanted to bring this incident to light so that no other woman gets to face this situation like I did," she said. Thanks to the CCTV, a crucial evidence in this case, and her bold decision... The police forced the PG owner to file a complaint and the police jumped into action.
"It was traumatic. I screamed for help. He tried to rape me. I bit his hand and thankfully escaped to reach my PG," she said. I found her extremely thin and lanky. Almost size zero. She knew what I was thinking. "I work for a beauty clinic in Kalyan Nagar."
She was panic-stricken as she recounted the incident to the PG owner, who reportedly tried to dissuade her from filing a complaint. “Everybody around me told me not to file a complaint,” she said. The police claim that they visited the PG since she did make a distress call to 100. But with no complaint, they could do nothing.
"But I wanted to bring this incident to light so that no other woman gets to face this situation like I did," she said. Thanks to the CCTV, a crucial evidence in this case, and her bold decision... The police forced the PG owner to file a complaint and the police jumped into action.
“I couldn’t stay in the PG any more. I shifted the very next day. How will I feel safe there after all this?” she said, with her eyes brimming with tears. Call it cosmopolitan… call it an IT city… Bengaluru in 2014 saw more than 250 cases registered under Pocso… and 2015 saw the arrest of 238 persons in 263 pocso cases, where167 were released on bail. Does the judiciary understand the gravity of the offence and the nature of the allegation? When every parent in Bengaluru is worried about their child at school, every woman – local or from the North-East or elsewhere – will live n this city, perpetually terrified of that man who will suddenly pounce on them from nowhere.
If it can happen in a heavily populated, residential area like Kathriguppe, one can imagine the consequences if it were to happen in several of the remote corners of this city. “In fact, nobody came to help initially,” the victim said. The CCTV showed a woman walking there unmindful of this girl being abducted. Not everyone will get to be lucky to find a CCTV as a crucial evidence or will have the grit to file a case or will even have the presence of mind to bite his hand and flee.
3 hours after I met the victim, Bengaluru police announced the arrest of the accused, Akshay, a 24-year-old cab driver from Kanakapura Road under sections of kidnapping as well as attempt to murder. According to the police, the accused person, a rowdy sheeter from the same police station limits, has confessed to the crime. As part of the investigation, the police has requested the victim to come over to record her statement and also identify the accused, based on which, further action will be taken.
I was thinking... How will this victim face him again at the police station? Wouldn’t one be terrified to see the same face that tore into one’s peace, joy, sleep and safety in a fraction of a second?
3 hours after I met the victim, Bengaluru police announced the arrest of the accused, Akshay, a 24-year-old cab driver from Kanakapura Road under sections of kidnapping as well as attempt to murder. According to the police, the accused person, a rowdy sheeter from the same police station limits, has confessed to the crime. As part of the investigation, the police has requested the victim to come over to record her statement and also identify the accused, based on which, further action will be taken.
I was thinking... How will this victim face him again at the police station? Wouldn’t one be terrified to see the same face that tore into one’s peace, joy, sleep and safety in a fraction of a second?
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