Bengaluru Student Arrested For Campus Rape, Asked Victim “Do You Need A Pill?”

A shocking sexual assault case unfolded at a private engineering college in South Bengaluru, where a sixth-semester student, Jeevan Gowda, allegedly raped his seventh-semester classmate inside a men's washroom on October 10, 2025. The 21-year-old accused was arrested on October 15 and remanded to judicial custody by the Hanumanthanagar police, following a complaint filed by the survivor after she confided in friends and informed her parents. The incident, registered under Section 64 (Punishment for Rape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), highlights vulnerabilities in educational institutions, where the absence of CCTV on the affected floor may hinder evidence collection. Police conducted a crime scene reconstruction on October 16, while forensic and digital analyses of seized devices continue, underscoring the challenges in probing campus-based crimes.

The survivor and Gowda were former classmates until the accused fell behind due to academic backlogs, maintaining a casual acquaintance that allegedly turned predatory. According to the FIR, the assault began during a lunch break when Gowda repeatedly called the victim to meet near the architecture block on the seventh floor, ostensibly to return her belongings. Upon arrival, he attempted to forcibly kiss her; as she fled toward the lift, he pursued her to the sixth floor, dragged her into the washroom, locked the door, and assaulted her between 1:30 p.m. and 1:50 p.m. When her phone rang during the attack, Gowda confiscated it. Post-assault, he contacted her again, insensitively asking, "Do you need a pill?"—a remark that deepened her trauma and delayed her reporting due to fear and distress. This detail, revealed in the FIR, has fuelled outrage over the accused's callousness.

The delayed complaint—filed five days later with parental support—reflects common barriers survivors face, including stigma and institutional silence. The college has yet to issue a statement, prompting questions about internal safety protocols and student welfare measures. In Bengaluru, a tech hub with over 1,200 engineering colleges enrolling millions, such incidents erode trust in campus security. Broader data from the National Crime Records Bureau indicates a 20% rise in reported campus assaults since 2020, often linked to peer familiarity, emphasising the need for mandatory CCTV, gender sensitisation, and swift grievance mechanisms.

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The case has ignited political firestorms, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slamming the Congress-led Karnataka government for a collapsing law-and-order apparatus. Leader of the Opposition R. Ashoka cited 979 sexual assaults statewide in the past four months, including 114 in Bengaluru, referencing recent horrors like the Mysuru tribal girl's rape-murder and a Kalaburagi librarian's suicide. He demanded a National Commission for Women fact-finding team and vowed BJP's unrelenting advocacy for women's safety. As the investigation progresses, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the urgent imperative for systemic reforms to shield students, particularly women, in India's premier educational enclaves.

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