Mysuru gang-rape: Karnataka HM withdraws rape remarks following opposition furore, CM's disapproval
Bengaluru/New Delhi, Aug 26: Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Thursday kicked up a row over his rape comments made in the context of a gangrape incident in Mysuru, that did not go down well with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and opposition Congress, prompting him to withdraw his controversial statement.
The home Minister's remarks that the gang rape victim and her male friend should not have gone to the deserted place and his claims that the opposition Congress was trying to 'rape' him by targetting him, following the incident, evoked sharp reactions from the opposition party, even as Jnanendra accused it of trying to derive political mileage from the 'inhuman' incident. Hitting out at the Home Minister and the ruling BJP, the Congress said they are "incapable" of protecting the people of the state.
With the issue snowballing into a major controversy and the Chief Minister also disapproving of his comments, Jnanendra withdrew his statement.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister said his government will form a special team to investigate the gang-rape case and asserted that the perpetrators will be caught soon and brought to justice. Bommai also disapproved of the comments made by Jnanendra and said, "I just don't agree with the comments made by my Home Minister regarding the gang-rape incident. I have advised him to give a clarification."
"I have directed the officials to pursue the matter seriously and update me on the developments," he added.
"Once the DGP (Director General of Police) and I reach Bengaluru, we will immediately form a special team," Bommai, who was on a two-day visit to the national capital, told PTI.
A college girl was allegedly raped by five men near Chamundi Hills in Mysuru late on Tuesday and the incident came to light on Wednesday.
The girl and her male friend, who was assaulted by the gang, are undergoing treatment in a private hospital.
"Around 7-7:30 pm (on Tuesday) they (the victim and male friend) had gone there. It is a deserted place, they should not have gone.. but we can't stop anyone from going, they have gone. It is a deserted place and no one usually goes there as no one will be there," Jnanendra said in response to a question.
Speaking to reporters here, he said there are concerns about lack of police patrolling in such places and that he was going to Mysuru and hold discussions with officials to rectify the lapses.
Reacting to opposition Congress' criticism on the law and order situation in the state after the gang-rape incident, the Minister said "Rape has happened there (in Mysuru), but the Congress was trying to rape me.. they are trying to rape the Home Minister. They are trying to gain political mileage. It is an inhuman act."
"When such incidents happen, instead of exerting pressure to see it from a humanitarian perspective and detect (the culprits), attempts are on to derive political mileage in such a situation. People will see it. I will not say much on this. Instructions have been given on what has to be done by the police so that such things don't recur and we are at it," he said.
Attacking the Home Minister for his statement, state Congress President D K Shivakumar urged the police to arrest his party men involved in "raping the Home Minister", whether it is him or Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah or any other leader.
"He (Home Minister) has claimed that Congress was raping him. He is using the word rape very lightly...it seems he likes that word. I seek the response of BJP leaders on this statement. When the Home Minister is saying that Congress is raping him, what is the administration of the state doing?" he asked.
Targeting Jnanendra for his comment that the victim should not have gone to deserted place, the Congress party said, "Home Minister you have the onus of protecting the state. Are you not ashamed of making such a shabby remark?"
"With this statement he (Home Minister) has agreed that it is dangerous to venture out even at 7:30 pm under a BJP rule," it said.
Pointing out that it has been nearly 48 hours since the incident occurred and no arrest has been made, Shivakumar said it is a shame on the police department and the party was concerned about the image of Karnataka.
He said Congress is constituting a fact finding committee to look into the incident under the Chairmanship of former MP V Ugrappa. They would visit Mysuru and submit a report and the party will do everything possible to get justice for the victim.
Later, in a statement withdrawing his comments, the Home Minister clarified that he had no intention of hurting anybody in criticising the Congress leaders who had sought his resignation over the unfortunate incident in Mysuru.
"I have withdrawn the statement made earlier on the Congress party leaders," he said.
Referring to the rape incident, Jnanendra said police officials are conducting an investigation to nab the culprits.
He said the victim and her male friend are being treated in the hospital and are under medical care.
The Minister also said that security measures will be tightened further to ensure the protection of all, especially women, adding that "We are committed to ensure the safety of all sections in society."
Meanwhile, Mysuru police have intensified efforts to identify the culprits with the help of mobile phone numbers that operated in the area at the time of the crime, and are also looking into CCTV footage of nearby areas, official sources said.
They said the culprits allegedly made a video of the sexual assault and demanded money for not making it public.
Some student organisations staged protests in Mysuru, demanding justice for the victim.
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TMC MP Saket Gokhale slams Bihar electoral roll revision, claims 1.26 crore voters 'deleted'
New Delhi(PTI): Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Monday said 1.26 crore voters have been "deleted" from Bihar's electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and challenged the government to a debate on the issue in Parliament.
Sharing the Election Commission's SIR data in a post on X, Gokhale said the poll panel "conveniently" did not share any information regarding its claim of having found foreign nationals in Bihar.
As the month-long first phase of the SIR has concluded, the EC on Sunday said that enumeration forms from 7.24 crore or 91.69 per cent of voters of the state have been received.
It also said 36 lakh people were found to have either permanently shifted from their previous addresses or were not found. It pointed out that seven lakh Bihar voters were found to have enrolled themselves at multiple places.
"ECI has deleted 1.26 crore voters in Bihar from the 2024 Lok Sabha voter list overnight," Gokhale, the TMC Rajya Sabha MP, said on X.
Calling the details revealed by the EC "bizarre", Gokhale pointed out that of a total of 7.90 crore voters, forms have been collected from only 91.69 per cent -- 7.24 crore voters.
"This means that forms were not collected from 65 lakh voters, and they will be deleted. About 22 lakh voters (2.83 per cent) have been deleted because they're claimed to be deceased, about 36 lakh voters (4.59 per cent) have been deleted because they're claimed to be untraceable, and about 7 lakh voters (0.89 per cent) claimed to be found as duplicate entries so half i.e. 3.5 lakh entries deleted," he said.
"ECI has conveniently not disclosed how many voters were found to be non-citizens of India. This is important because ECI had claimed that the SIR was being done to 'remove illegal immigrants'," Gokhale said.
EC sources had earlier said their field-level functionaries found "a large number of people" from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar during house-to-house visits made for the ongoing intensive review of the voters' list in Bihar.
Gokhale further said the names "deleted" were on the voters' list in the last Lok Sabha polls.
"A total of 1.26 crore voters in Bihar, whose names were on the Lok Sabha 2024 voter list just one year ago, have been deleted from the new voter list," he said.
"To give you a comparable idea, the number of deleted voters in Bihar during the current SIR is equal to the entire combined population of Uttarakhand plus Himachal Pradesh or the entire combined population of all 6 states of the North-East (excluding Assam)," he said.
He said EC needed to answer some questions "urgently".
"The voter list was revised by ECI before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. How on earth did 1.26 crore voters become ineligible in just one year?" he said.
"How many voters has the ECI been unable to reach for collecting their forms? Under the rules of SIR, those whose forms were not collected will be deleted. Therefore, what is the total number of voters whose names have been deleted only because their forms were not collected?" he questioned.
He said the EC has not collected documents along with the forms from all 7.24 crore voters.
"Does this mean that more voters will be deleted if their documents have not been collected with their forms?"
He reiterated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's statement that the SIR exercise "is NRC by the back door".
"ECI had claimed 'removing foreigners from the voter list' as one of the reasons for conducting this SIR. Why has the ECI not disclosed how many actual 'foreigners' were found and deleted from the voter list during this SIR?" he said.
"It makes zero sense that 12 million people in Bihar have become 'ineligible' voters in just one year between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections till date... When 12 million people in a single state lose the right to vote overnight, it is a serious issue," he said.
He added that the opposition MPs have been pressing for a debate on the issue.
"Why is the Modi Govt so scared to have an open discussion on this in Parliament?" he added.
Meanwhile, the EC has asserted that no names will be deleted from draft rolls without following due process.
VERY IMPORTANT AND SHOCKING
— Saket Gokhale MP (@SaketGokhale) July 28, 2025
ECI has deleted 1.26 CRORE voters in Bihar from the 2024 Lok Sabha voter list OVERNIGHT
Last night, the ECI published details of ongoing "special intensive revision" of the electoral roll being conducted in Bihar. The deadline for collection of forms… pic.twitter.com/E7x2egYfCw
