2 teenagers rape five-year-old, held

Bangalore, June 26: A five-year-old girl who had gone to a mango grove with her friends to play and pick the fruit was allegedly raped by two teenagers in Byappanadoddi village near Yadavanahalli, off Hosur Road, Anekal taluk of Bangalore Rural district on Monday afternoon.

The culprits identified as Madhura alias Operation Madhu, 19, and his friend Viji, 18, have been picked up and are being questioned by Attibele police.

Venugopal alias Belurappa said that when he returned home from work his wife, Shivamma, told him that their daughter, Ranjini (name changed), had injuries on her body. Ranjini had gone to the mango grove near her house to play with other children around 1pm. They found the two teenagers drinking beer. The duo dragged Ranjini into a nearby bush, children who witnessed the barbaric incident, told the child's parents. The children fled from the grove in fear and alerted elders in the village. By the time help came, the teenagers had allegedly raped the girl, police said. The villagers kept the culprits in their custody till the police came.

Ranjini is the second daughter of Belurappa and Shivamma, both daily wage labourers. Her elder sister is eight years old. Police said the child was first taken to the Anekal government hospital where doctors referred the child to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Jayanagar. Sanjay Gandhi Hospital doctors confirmed rape.

The child, who is under acute trauma, is undergoing treatment in Vani Vilas Hospital. Police told TOI that Madhura was a drunkard. "He was regularly involved in fights with others. He gained notoriety as Operation Madhu as he had undergone several surgeries on his stomach because of stab injuries he had suffered in fights with others," police said. The duo will be produced before an Anekal court on Tuesday.

CHILD ABUSERS ON THE PROWL Girl children aren't safe in Bangalore. More so on the city's outskirts where vast swathes of unpopulated territory have become havens for anti-social elements. That people from economically weaker sections reside in these areas and in most cases both parents go to work, leave little girls vulnerable to sexual assaults.

On June 17 night, a seven-year-old girl was raped and murdered allegedly by a 28-yearold man at Nellurahalli, near Whitefield, late on Saturday. The accused had gone to their house once with the victim's father. When the entire village was busy with a local deity's temple inauguration, he took the child on the pretext of buying her a biscuit, raped her and threw the unconscious child into a lake. Children from economically weaker sections have no protection against sexual abuse, said Vasudeva Sharma, member, Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.