4 teens held for molestation of minor, sent to remand home

Bengaluru, Jul 23: Four minor boys, including two school dropouts, were on Saturday taken into custody in connection the alleged molestation of a 13-year-old girl on July 10. They were booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and handed over to the remand home following a complaint filed by the girl's mother.

According to the complainant, the four boys, including two class IX students, had waylaid her daughter when she was en-route to her grandmother's house last Monday and assaulted her when she tried to resist.

Survivor identifies attackers

On Friday night, a special team detained the main accused, a 14-year-old boy who was hiding in a relative's house in Hubballi. The boy had reportedly proposed to the girl and attacked her after she refused to become his girlfriend, sources said. He had left for Hubballi after the girl's mother approached police.

"On Saturday, the girl identified the four accused and narrated what they did to her on July 10. Three of them had kicked her in abdomen when she refused to accept the proposal of their friend," police said.

They took her to graveyard

On July 10 evening, when the girl was walking back home from school, the four boys allegedly dragged her to a graveyard off the road. The 14-year-old boy proposed her and when she rejected, the trio started kicking her. The boy bit her on the cheek, saying no one should like her in future. When the girl raised an alarm, passersby rushed to her help. The boys had then fled. The girl, who did not reveal the incident to her family, was taken to a hospital on Thursday after she complained of abdomen pain. After the doctor found it to be medico legal case, it was referred to Ramamurthynagar police who registered a case after taking statement from the girl's mother.

Cases against minors

This is the second major case of minors from Bengaluru being involved in a congnizable offence in four months. With the arrest of the four, the number of minors being booked for heinous crimes this year rose to seven. In March, three class X students in Yelahanka, north-east Bengaluru, were arrested for allegedly stabbing their classmate to death over a trivial issue.