Belagavi assault case: NHRC team visits victim, seeks report from Karnataka in 4 weeks

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday visited the Belagavi stripping case victim, a tribal woman, at the district hospital here and obtained first-hand information on the inhuman and ghastly incident.

The victim, sources said, narrated the horrific ordeal she went through on the night of December 11 to the NHRC team, led by DIG (Investigation) Sunilkumar Meena.

The NHRC team also collected details about the incident from the Belagavi police. 

The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report, carried on December 12, that "a 42-year-old woman was stripped, paraded naked, tied to an electricity pole and assaulted" in Belagavi district after her son eloped with a girl from the same village.

Meena told reporters that the incident, if true, raises a serious issue of violation of the human rights of the victim woman.

It is the duty of the state to safeguard vulnerable sections of the society, especially women, children and elderly persons.

An NHRC team will conduct an on-the-spot fact-finding inquiry at the earliest and submit a report, within two weeks, he said.

Meanwhile, the commission has issued notices to the state chief secretary and the director general of police of Karnataka, seeking a detailed report within four weeks.

“It should include the status of the registration of FIR, progress in investigation, arrest, if any, compensation under the victim compensation scheme, if paid, and the steps taken or to be taken to prevent such incidents in the state.

CID takes over probe

The Crime Investigation Department (CID) officers on Monday arrived in the city and took over the investigations of the case where a woman, belonging to the scheduled tribe, was assaulted and paraded naked at Vantamuri village in the district.

The victim was assaulted, paraded naked and tied to an electricity pole in the village in the early hours of December 11, allegedly by the family members of a girl who had eloped with the victim’s son on December 10.

The CID team held a meeting with city police officials in the morning. They verified the documents. In the afternoon, they arrived at Circuit House and obtained information from Kakati police station sub-inspector and other personnel as they were the first to reach the village. Details about the time of the incident, police getting the information, time taken to reach the village, situation when they reached and other information was collected, sources said.

The CID, during the course of investigation, will visit the village and also meet the victim who is undergoing treatment at Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences district hospital.

The police have arrested 11 people in this case, while search for other accused is on.