Frazer Town

car

Bangalore

Cox Town

rape

police

Sexual Assault

FIR

It was a Friday dinner rendezvous that Trisha (name changed) had with old friends. The dinner done, the group had gathered outside the restaurant to say their farewells for the night. It was just 11.30 and Trisha, who is pursuing a postgraduate course in Mangalore, had decided to take an auto back to her home inwhere she stays with her parents. But one of her friends, the son of the owner of a marquee restaurant, advised her against it. The friend said it was unsafe to travel alone at that hour. He offered to drop her -- and two others from the group -- and Trisha agreed.The two friends had to be dropped off first since their homes came en route and by the time Trisha, 22, and her male friend arrived at the gate of her apartment complex in Frazer Town, it was almost midnight. The duo sat in thefor a bit, chatting. It was then that a night of horror unfolded.“As we sat in the car, chatting near the apartment gate, I noticed another car, a Skoda Fabia drive up the street and pass us twice,” Trisha toldMirror. “It returned again a third time and the driver parked right in front of our car. Six young men got out and surrounded our car. One of them ordered me to get out and to go and sit in their car. My friend asked them why. To this, one of them rudely told my friend that he need not reply and to do just what they said.“My friend realised that the youths meant business and that they had planned something drastic. So he told me to get out quickly and make a run for my apartment. I got out and ran towards the gate, but three of the gang caught up with me, wrenched me by the hand and pulled me back into my friend’s car. They forced me into the rear seat. They forced my friend out and pushed him too into the rear seat beside me. Two of the gang got in, one on either side, and we were sandwiched between them. Two others occupied the front seats and we began to move."With the remaining two gang members following in the Fabia, the gang drove Trisha and her friend around the area for more than an hour. All the while, the gang member seated next to Trisha allegedly sexually assaulted her.“One of the gang members said they are policemen in mufti,” Trisha said. “They told us that they had regularly seen us sitting in the car, late in the night. I told them that this was untrue and that I had never sat out like that before. I requested them to leave us, but the gang leader said he would leave us only if we gave them Rs 50,000. Or I had to spend five minutes intimately with them. I told them that I wasn’t carrying that much money and would pay them if they took me to my house. They refused and demanded that we hand over the money on the spot. I realised that they had no intention of robbing us. They were set on sexually molesting me.”Trisha says that at around 1.30 am, the two cars drove to a desolate area near the railway tracks in. “The two men sitting in front got out and pulled my friend out. I was left alone with the two men in our car. One of them told the other to go out and tell my friend to just wait for 15 minutes without making any noise. They put a knife to his neck. The guy who was inside my car told me that they would kill my friend if I did not cooperate with him.”Trisha says he then began fondling her and “doing despicable things”. “It was tantamount to,” Trisha sobbed. The ordeal went on for about 15 minutes after which she was allowed to go. They released her friend too.“We drove back home. I cried and cried the whole night. I did not tell my parents about it. The next day, my friends came to console me. I told them that I had seen the man who had attacked me the most previously in the area. My friends decided to hunt him down before approaching the. On Saturday evening, they spotted the Fabia (KA 01- MJ 8433) near MM Road. But before they could approach, it sped away. My friends did not give up.”With Trisha’s friend who witnessed the assault leading, the group of friends fanned out in the area on Sunday. “On Sunday night, we saw the Skoda car parked near a fitness centre opposite Albert Bakery on Mosque Road,” the boy said. “We waited there for more than 90 minutes and eventually the gang member came to take the car. We surrounded him and called Frazer Town police. They came and took him into custody. After this, we went to Trisha's house and took her to the police station to lodge a complaint.”But another drama enfolded at the police station, making the incident all the more painful for Trisha.The night of trauma still fresh in her mind, Trisha had accompanied her friends to Frazer Town police station at around 11 pm on Sunday. She alleges that there, the police gave her a first-hand version of their style of policing and their sense of justice.“I began writing the complaint after confirming that the man who my friends had caught was the same man who had misbehaved with me,” Trisha told Mirror. “I addressed the complaint to the police inspector and wrote the subject — ‘Kidnap,and Molestation’. I don't remember the names of the policemen at the station, but I know an inspector and sub-inspector were present, while another policeman named Kumar dictated to me. They told me not to mention sexual assault and kidnap and asked me to keep only molestation as the subject.”Trisha says the explanation the police gave was that since she was taken in her friend’s car, “it did not amount to kidnap even if they did it forcibly”. “They said that to include sexual assault, I would have to undergo some medical tests.”Under such duress, Trisha dropped the sexual assault and kidnap from the subject and merely narrated the entire incident in detail. While police are expected to file cases based on the details in the complaint, the usual practice is to simply go by the subject specified in the complaint.Trisha says that after a three-hour ordeal at the station, the complaint was eventually accepted. But the police did not register animmediately, violating a Supreme Court direction. And instead of taking the girl for a medical test, the cops sent her home along with her friends.On Monday morning, Trisha's friend went to police station again to obtain a photocopy of the complaint and a copy of the FIR. He claims he was made to wait interminably before police inspector, Mohammed Rafiq, finally spoke to him over the phone and asked to bring Trisha to identify the miscreants who misbehaved with her.On Monday evening, this BM reporter went to the police station along with Trisha's friend and found that the police had still not registered an FIR. Trisha's friend repeatedly requested for a copy of the FIR, but the police instead asked him to get into a jeep. They took him to the spot from where Trisha and her friend were abducted for the Mahajar report (spot visit report). An FIR was registered only after the police learnt that BM had been to the station — almost a full 24 hours after the complaint was first received.Police have registered a case under IPC sections 341(wrongful restraint), 384 (extortion), IPC 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), IPC 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and IPC 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty). Section 384 carries a maximum sentence of imprisonment of three years. The other sections attract a lesser sentence.Braveheart Trisha meets police chief, seeks action against those who leaked her personal information resulting in media invasion of her privacyHer parents don’t want her to fight this battle. Like any others in their place, they are worried sick for her safety. The happenings over the past week have so distressed them that they want her to drop studies and just be secure within the confines of their home. But this Bangalore braveheart has decided to battle on.On Wednesday, Trisha (name changed), who was sexually assaulted after being abducted from right outside her Frazer Town home on Friday night, stepped up her fight, submitting another petition to the police commissioner, seeking action against those who had leaked her personal information resulting in media invasion of her privacy.The 22-year-old’s battle for justice, however, is taking a toll on her family. “My parents are concerned about my safety and future. They are traumatised to such an extent that they have advised me to discontinue studies and stay at home. They want me to drop the battle. But I don’t want to give up. I must continue my fight so that no other girl suffers like me on the streets of Bangalore,’’ Trisha told Bangalore Mirror soon after meeting the police commissioner.Trisha says her relatives who stay out of Bangalore rushed down after the incident came to light. “They are scared and concerned about my safety. They don’t want me to step out of the house. How can I continue my fight by hiding inside?” she says.Striking a note of hope, she adds, “I know my parents will come around and support me in my fight.”Meanwhile, Trisha’s friends, who instilled courage in her after the horrific incident, accompanied her to the police commissioner’s office. In her petition, she has stated: “I would like to bring to your notice the painful act that has caused further trauma for me and my family by the police and the television channels who revealed my identity, address, phone number and my photograph. Due to this, my house has been surrounded by the media.”She says reporters have been persistently calling her ever since her identity was made public. Pointing out the extent of her harassment, she said they have also made calls to the organisation where she interned for a month, seeking information about her. “A few regional channels have aired my photograph. Though my face has been blurred, my identity was given away due to the saree and another dress I was wearing. Also, a group photo was uploaded on a channel. Again my face was blurred, but the faces of my friends were visible, making it easy for several to figure out who the victim was.”The petition states this is the second letdown by the Pulakeshinagar police. They failed to take action against the accused who Trisha and her friends nabbed by risking their lives and also tried to burk the sensitivity of the case to favour the accused.This time, they failed to protect her identity and provide adequate security. “Hereafter, I don’t want any person or media to reveal my identity, address and photographs. If the police fail this time, I would be compelled to take extreme measures because of the stigma.” She says they have been getting calls from unknown numbers with the callers claiming to be relatives and family members of the accused. “They want us to retract the complaint. We also feel there are people following us.” All of this compelled Trisha to seek security and permission to put tinted glass on her car.Responding to her petition, police chief Raghavendra Auradkar said he was aware of the calls. “I have already instructed the investigating officer ACP Noorulla Shariff to take the numbers from you and take up a separate case of intimidation against those responsible.”The commissioner gave her permission to put tinted glass on her car. He also deputed a woman SI as personal security officer for Trisha as long as she wanted.The commissioner also ordered the investigating officer to conduct an inquiry into the disclosure of her personal details.He told her to convince her parents that she had the backing of the entire city police. To further bolster her morale, he gave her his cellphone number and asked her to call him in case of any emergency.