Home minister blames Vibgyor School for student's rape

Home Minister K J George on Monday squarely blamed the Vibgyor school management for the alleged rape of a minor student, saying that the management should have checked the background of the skating trainer, one of the accused in the case.

Replying to a discussion on the issue in the Assembly, he said the school, which has about 6,000 students, should have been more vigilant while recruiting the staff.

The management had tried to hush up the incident and delayed handing over the CCTV footage to the police, he said in the Legislative Council.

Strongly countering JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, George said the victim was not mentally challenged, but ‘hyper-attentive’.

“She is a clever and mischievous girl. Hence, a shadow teacher was assigned to her. On July 2, the shadow teacher was not with the girl for 40 minutes. During this time when she was running around the school, the incident took place, he pointed out.

Four arrested

On the Frazer Town rape incident, the minister said that of the five suspects, four had been arrested. The victim lodged a complaint two days after the incident.

The police have seized the car where the alleged rape took place and have slapped a case against the suspect as per the amended provisions under the Indian Penal Code.

Special team formed

On the Hennur convent rape incident, George said the culprits were yet to be nabbed. A special police team has been formed and they are in Andhra Pradesh looking out for the perpetrators of crime.

Referring to a series of rape cases outside Bangalore, including Bijapur, Gulbarga, Bagalkot, Bidar and Malur, he said arrests had been made in all the cases.

On the BJP’s allegations that Karnataka, in particular Bangalore, had been earning the dubious distinction of a ‘rape capital’, George said: “I do not agree with such comments. There are 6.5 crore people in the State. Is everybody committing rape? The entire society should protect women. Those who commit offences against women should be socially boycotted.”

He said the Law department had been asked to amend the Goonda Act so that rapists could be brought under its ambit.

Decision today

In the Council, Leader of the Opposition K S Eshwarappa demanded that the Act be amended in the current session. George said the government would announce its decision on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court had also been requested to spare judges to head the fast track courts for speedy trial of cases involving atrocities against women.

The government could not set up fast track courts due to the non-availability of judges, he added.