Gang strips tribal woman, shoots semi-nude videos near Mangaluru

By NT Correspondent

Mangaluru: Close on the heels of the twin murders of a Dalit man and a tribal man in Tumakuru, reports of a 35-year-old tribal woman being stripped and assaulted by a gang in a village near Mangaluru in Dakshina Kannada district emerged on Sunday.

According to the police, the woman was assaulted at Guripalla village in Belthangady taluk on April 19.

The nine-member gang apparently tore her clothes and shot her semi-nude videos even as 30-odd villagers watched the attack. They attacked the survivor’s elder sister and mother too.

The police have registered a First Information Report against nine persons. The accused are: Sandeep (30), Santhosh (29), Gulabi (55), Suguna (30), Kusuma (38), Lokayya (55), Anil (35), Lalitha (40) and Chenna Keshava (40).

All of them are from the survivor’s village. Chenna Keshava is said to be a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.

The trigger for the assault appeared to be a land dispute.

The victim and her family have been living in government-owned land. Officials from the revenue department visited the place on April 19 based on her application to regularise it.

But the accused stopped the land survey forcing the officials to leave following which the gang assaulted the woman.

The victim said she complained to the police as she feared the semi-nude videos the assaulters filmed would go viral.

Belthangady police are investigating the case.