Karnataka hight court slams police for botching up kidnap and rape case

The high court on Thursday came down heavily on the state police force for botching up the case relating to the kidnap and rape of a 15-year-old girl belonging to scheduled caste in Devanahalli.

A division bench, headed by justice N Kumar, asked, “what would the commissioner of police Shankar M Bidari do if his daughter was in a similar situation. He should take steps to remove unscrupulous elements in the police force.”

The division bench observed that the police tried to destroy evidence of rape and kidnapping of the girl. The bench noted that Devanahalli police station house officer (SHO) Vidhyadhara D. Baikerikal had filed two affidavits with different versions of the case. Justice Kumar said the court would like to know what action the commissioner of police had taken against the SHO.

The justice observed,”The court is giving one more opportunity to the police commissioner to remove unscrupulous elements from the police force. Inaction such as this will erode the public’s confidence in the police.” On July 11, 2010, a 15-year-old girl went missing from Devanahalli taluk. Her father Narasimhaiah had lodged a complaint with the Devanahalli police, stating that Muniraju, their neighbour, had detained her, but there was no action from the local police.  Later, a habeas corpus case was filed in the high court.

The high court directed the police to probe the case. On Thursday, the police told the court that Muniraju had taken the girl to Adiparashakthi temple and tied mangalasutra but later took her to Rampura village and raped her. The case has been adjourned to January 5.