Auto-rickshaw driver convicted for rape of high school girl

Mangalore, Oct 18: A local special court for rape cases here on Friday convicted a 26-year-old auto-rickshaw driver for rape of a 14-year-old high school student.

The court held Harish Gowda guilty for raping a minor near Kalanja in Belthangadi taluk on September 13, 2012. Judge SH Pushpanjali Devi delivered the verdict after examining 18 witnesses in the case that was registered at Uppinangadi police station in Dakshina Kannada (DK) district on September 21, 2012. Victim, a class VIII student, was kidnapped and later raped at an isolated place inside the reserve forest at Ennegudde in Kalanja.

The quantum of punishment will be pronounced after the hearing of defence counsel on October 20.

Public prosecutor, K Shivaprasad Alva, said that Gowda, who owns autorickshaw 'Pallakki', was taking one Dinesh from Kokkada to Arasinamakki on September 13 and stopped his autorickshaw on seeing the girl on the way.

The girl was returning to her maternal uncle's house after receiving a bicycle under the government scheme from school.

The accused offered to drop her to her house, which is about 2 km from the spot. After Dinesh got down from the rickshaw, the accused took the girl to Ennegudde even though she pleaded with him to stop the vehicle near her house," said Alva. The girl was then dropped near her house after the crime. The accused also threatened to kill her and rape her sister, too, if she told anything about the incident to others.

However, the incident came of kidnap and rape came to light, when the girl was not her usual bubbly self during a family function on September 20. Following this, a complaint was filed on September 21 and later inspector Suresh Kumar P submitted a chargesheet under sections 376, 363 and 506 for kidnap and rape to the court on December 20, 2012, Alva said.

Forensic reports and examination of witnesses, especially Dinesh, helped the court to arrive at a conclusion to convict the accused. The hearing, which commenced on June 6, 2014, ended on August 2, 2014, he said, adding that it is the second conviction after the special court for rape started functioning in the District Court Complex.