Bangalore child rape case: Police go on overdrive, book suspects in hundreds

BANGALORE: It's a month since a six-year-old child was allegedly raped by a staffer in an upscale school in east Bangalore, and the eruption of public anger over the incident has sent policemen on an overdrive against the preying men. As women and children took out a procession in south Bangalore on Saturday, cops nabbed scores of men they suspected as eve-teasers.

Bangalore's new Police Commissioner MN Reddi has opened a twitter account (@cpblr) for ease of communication with people, and to step up information gathering. Most of his tweets these days are about his team's action to ensure women's safety. In the last two days, according to his tweets, police have booked 350 men for eve-teasing, and detained two alleged rapists under the powerful Goonda Act.

The Bangalore Police have been under pressure to perform as the 14-month-old Siddaramaiah government is facing flak from the Opposition parties for its failure to make India's tech capital safe for women and children.

The state administration has taken a step or two to douse the public outcry , which led to a Bangalore bandh on July 31. The government has enlarged the scope of the Goonda Act bringing habitual sexual offenders under its purview. “One has seen Bangalore observing bandh for political reasons, but as far as I can remember, this is for the first time people observed bandh seeking protection for women,“ said former law minister S Suresh Kumar.

“Citizens have lost respect for police. Police are not seen as those trying to protect citizens from criminals, but politicians from citizens,“ said TV Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education Ser vices. “The police are ill-equipped to deal with crime in a large city like Bangalore. While corrupt policemen are spending their time settling disputes and collecting hafta, those who are honest and competent are neither empowered nor given freedom to perform their duty.“

According to observers, what exacerbated matters for the CM was his administration's lack of communication in the initial days after the crime on the child, and treating the incident as a routine police case.

“Being silent is not an option for the leader.

It's not after every incident do people get worked up like this. The CM should have shown some sensitivity,“ said V Balakrishnan, AAP leader and former director at Infosys. “The Bangalore police need training to handle cases of complex nature such as the one at the school with care and sensitivity,“ said A Ravindra, former chief secretary .

The commissioner says the investigation “is progressing on right lines“. The police will do a professional job and “there is no need for any doubt,“ he tweeted on July 30. Bangalore and the surrounding areas have reported three incidents of rape in July.

“The police can no longer take shelter under statistics insisting that rape cases have not increased. What has indeed increased is public awareness. People are holding police and ministers to account,“ a retired police officer said.