Teenage girl's fingers chopped for spurning love

 Adding to the grim statistics of crimes against women, a teenaged girl’s fingers were slashed by a youth whose love she spurned, at Halenaganadoddi village in the taluk on Saturday.

The 16-year-old victim, daughter of Siddegowda, was attacked by Ravikumar, 21 and son of Lingegowda of the same village.

The assailant has been arrested.
The haples suffered grievous injuries on both her palms, with four fingers of her left hand severed and hanging. She was rushed to the district hospital and later to a private hospital in Bengaluru, where she is undergoing treatment.

According to sources, accused Ravikumar was working as a tractor driver at the victim’s  house for the past three years. He was reportedly in love with her while she had turned down his overtures. Six months ago, Ravikumar had misbehaved with the victim, only to incur the wrath of the girl’s father and his employer, who warned him before sacking him from the job.

Nursing revenge, Ravikumar attacked the girl with a sickle on Saturday, when the latter was returning home from college, at Besagarahalli, around 4 pm. Before the attack, Ravikumar made one last bid to win the girl over by expressing his love. The girl rejected his offer again.

Enraged, Ravikumar attacked her with the sickle. In a bid to save her life, the girl clutched the weapon, sustaining grievous injuries.

People rushed to the girl’s rescue on hearing her screams and nabbed Ravikumar, who was handed over to the police.

SP Bhushan Borase told Deccan Herald, “The case has been taken up on priority. As tension prevails in the village, one platoon of district armed reserve (DAR) police force has been stationed there.”