Shraddha murder case coverage prompts minor Karnataka girl to reveal rape

The girl was sexually assaulted by a neighbour, who tricked her into mixing sedatives in the food consumed by her family that night.

ByBellie Thomas

Published Nov 24, 2022 | 6:43 PMUpdatedNov 24, 2022 | 6:44 PM

Sexual Harassment Representational Image

The murder of Shraddha Walkar in Delhi and the subsequent coverage around it may have received flak from some quarters for its surfeit, but there was an unintended consequence.

A 13-year-old from the Mandya district of Karnataka saw it and found it in herself to open up to her parents about being sexually assaulted, said the local police.

The cops subsequently arrested 24-year-old Yunus Pasha for the alleged sexual assault of the teen at her house on the night of 10 November.

Pasha, a married man who has a child, has been booked for rape under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under appropriate sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

He has also been booked under sections of the Information Technology Act, and the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act.

That last part was for allegedly forcing the minor girl to convert to Islam for him to marry, the police said.

That Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act is also referred to as the Karnataka anti-conversion law, and is a relatively new one, which has already resulted in the registering of a few cases.

Coercion and blackmail 

According to the police, Pasha, a two-wheeler mechanic, is a resident of Kumbar Street in the Nagamangala town of the Mandya district, right opposite the minor girl’s house.

The long-time neighbours started talking over the past two years, the police said.

Pasha, at the start of 2022, had gifted the girl — a Class VIII student at a private school — a smartphone, and they would communicate on WhatsApp, said the cops.

Yunus apparently told the girl to conceal the smartphone from her parents and friends.

Over time, Pasha coerced the girl to strip over video calls and recorded them. He also apparently told her he would marry her because his religion permitted polygamy.

The police said Pasha subsequently started blackmailing her with the recorded clips into establishing a physical relationship with her.

Also read: Police arrest Hyderabad school principal whose driver assaulted student

Nefarious plan

Yunus came to know from the girl that her father was leaving for Shirdi for a pilgrimage trip on 8 November, and planned to return on 12 November.

That would leave the girl, her mother, brother, aunt, and grandmother at their house.

On 10 November, Yunus reportedly gave the girl some sleeping pills and asked her to mix them with some food that the family would eat, but warned her not to consume that food.

“The girl mixed the sleeping pills in a curry that was made at their home that night and everyone went into a deep sleep except for the minor girl,” police officials told South First.

“Pasha came to her house late at night and sexually assaulted her, after which he told her that he would definitely marry her if she converted to Islam, leaving her flabbergasted,” added the cops.

The truth comes out

The girl’s father returned from Shirdi on 12 November and observed some behavioural changes in her, said the police, adding that this was the very day news outlets started covering the murder of Shraddha Walkar.

She was allegedly murdered by her live-in partner Aaftab Ameen Poonawala, who reportedly cut her body into 35 pieces and stored them in a newly-bought refrigerator to dump the pieces over time.

Police officials told South First that this news sent chills down the minor girl’s spine, and she decided to open up with her parents, confessing to her mother that Pasha had bought her a smartphone and coerced her to strip on camera.

She also handed over the phone to her mother and told her that Pasha blackmailed her using those videos to force her into a physical relationship, and that also he promised to marry her.

The girl also narrated what happened on the night of 10 November.

Pasha arrested, booked

Shocked, the girl’s father approached the Nagamangala Town Police Station and filed a complaint against his neighbour.

“The police registered an FIR, booking Yunus Pasha for rape and under appropriate sections of the POCSO Act, and also under sections of the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion for allegedly forcing the minor girl to convert into Islam for him to marry her,” Nagamangala sub-division Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Lakshmi Narayana Prasad told South First.

“We have also booked the accused under sections of the IT Act for blackmailing the girl with her objectionable videos and pictures,” added the DySP.

Pasha was arrested the same day, taken for medical examination, and produced before a magistrate, who remanded him in judicial custody.

The minor girl underwent a medical examination. Her phone has been seized and sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for further investigation.