The woman has alleged she was gang-raped by the men who barged into the hotel room she was staying in with a man in Karnataka's Haveri
Seven men who were seen in a video barging into a hotel room and attacking a couple during their stay in Karnataka's Haveri district have been charged with gangrape after the victim complained that she was sexually assaulted by them, police said on Friday.
In the case of moral policing, three men, who also belong to a minority community, have been arrested for assaulting the duo, reportedly an interfaith couple. The incident took place on January 8.
"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," news agency PTI quoted a senior police officer as saying.
"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," the senior police officer said.
The police officer also informed that another suspect is hospitalised due to an accident he met a day after the alleged incident. Once he is discharged, he will be taken into custody, the officer added.
"Our teams are trying to trace the remaining suspects in the case. We have identified all of them," he said.
As per the police, a 26-year-old married woman who belongs to a minority community checked into the hotel room at around 1 pm on January 8 with a KSRTC driver aged 40, with whom she has been in a relationship for the past three years.
Police said when the couple entered the hotel, they were spotted by an auto-rickshaw driver who saw the woman clad in a burqa with the man and immediately alerted the gang of local men who also belonged to the minority community.
The men then went to the hotel, barged into the couple's room, assaulted them and even filmed the act, videos of which surfaced on social media on Thursday.
In one of the videos, six men could be seen knocking on the door of a room. When the 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.
The woman alleged the involvement of six men, and later she also mentioned other suspects who were accomplices. Police said they were trying to trace all of them.
The men also eventually dragged the couple out of the room, a senior police officer said, adding that the duo was then taken to an isolated place about a kilometre away from the hotel where they attacked them further.
"The gang who arrived on three motorcycles drove the couple to an isolated place which was about a kilometer away from the hotel. Upon reaching there, they started thrashing the couple. They also abused the woman and hit her with sticks, police said.
The woman alleged she was also gangraped by them, police added.
Thereafter, the gang gave her Rs 500 and told her to go to her native place. She later went to Sirsi where her husband lives, the police officer said.
Police said that the accused are not affiliated to any organisation, adding that those arrested so far do not have any criminal background, however, that needs to be verified.
Besides gangrape, other IPC sections included in the FIR are those pertaining to kidnap and assault.