The two girls had gone missing from Karnataka.
By Dileep Thekkethil
The police have arrested four people, including two family members of one of the two girls who were raped after they went missing from a madrassa in Bakthal district of Karnataka.
According to media reports, one of the girls was sexually assaulted by her uncle when she visited her home during the vacation and on returning to the madrassa, she narrated the incident to her friend after which, both decided to run away to Goa in search of jobs.
The police – who traced the girls in Goa – were told by the rape victims that while they were waiting for the train in the Kumta Railway Station, two youth took their photo and threatened to put it up on the internet if they didn’t agree to accompany them.
The girls said to police that they were sexually assaulted by the youth and were later dropped back to the railway station, soon after which they both boarded a train to Goa from where the police found them.
The two accused who took the pictures of the girls in the railway station have been identified by the police as Ravi Naik (28) and Bharat Ambiga (26), residents of Kumta, reported The New Indian Express
According to other reports, the father of one of the girls, along with his brother-in-law, were also arrested by the police in connection with the case but there is no official word regarding the names of the family members arrested.
The four accused arrested by the police have been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Earlier, Hafiz Abdul Khadir, secretary of the madrasa, had lodged a missing complaint.
The two girls went missing from the madrassa on November 18 in Tenginagundi, sparking tension in the coastal town of Bhatkal as another girl was kidnapped and raped by a man in the same madrassa just a few days earlier.