Haveri: In a shocking incident in Haveri, an interfaith couple faced a brutal attack by five to six miscreants on January 8 at 1 PM at the Idigas lodge. The assailants entered the lodge illegally, assaulted the couple, took the woman out of the room, subjected her to further assault, threatened her life, and allegedly raped her. The victims filed a complaint on January 10 at 8 AM, leading to the arrest of two suspects, identified as Aftab, 24, a mechanic, and Madara Saab, 23, a business owner.

The case has been registered under various sections of Indian Penal Code 143, 147, 448, 323, 354, 307, 504, 506 and 149. The victim in her video statement alleged that she was raped and said that "I arrived from Sirsi at the hotel on 4th cross at 1 pm. While in the room, some men dragged me from the room, took me on their bikes near a river and hit me. They hit me really badly. These men then took me to 2-3 places in the forest, and took turns in raping me. They then took me to the city in a car, where the car driver also raped me. They then left me on the road, and I had to board a bus. One boy was Aftab, I don't know the names of all of them but I can identify if they are produced in front of me. The video footage would show all of them clearly. It includes all of them who raped me. I beg the government to take stringent action against all the accused."

The SP of Haveri has maintained that the Hanagal cops immediately acted on the complaint and in less than 24 hours two of the accused have been nabbed. Haveri SP, Anshu Kumar, speaking to Republic said that "One case has been reported and two accused have been arrested in less than 24 hours. This happened on  January 8. We are looking for three more accused in the case and we are identifying from CCTV footage, the mobile phones of the accused are switched off but we are trying to arrest them. We are also looking for any personal motive and it will come.out during investigation, as of now it looks like a case of moral policing. Kidnapping, outraging the modesty of a woman, assault, trespass and further sections will be added after the investigation."

Opposition slams government for collapsing law and order

Meanwhile the opposition party slammed the government of Karnataka over the increase in moral policing in the state. The assault on a couple in a lodge in Hangal of Haveri district by some miscreants in the name of moral policing is highly condemnable. The police must arrest all those who were involved in the moral policing and punishment should be meted out demanded former CM Basavaraj Bommai who is also the MLA of Haveri.

Former CM Bommai on social media platform X posted that "after manhandling the girl, she had been taken to a secluded place and reportedly sexually assaulted her. This incident of the moral policing by the miscreants has given the feeling whether the state  government existed or not. Why Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who talks a lot about moral policing, is silent on this particular incident. Is it because the miscreants belonged to the Minority community?  Mr Siddaramaiah,  clarify your stand on this incident." demanded Bommai.

Two special teams have also been formed to nab the remaining accused and additional IPC sections 363,324,509 too have been added to this case.