Head constable booked for raping woman at police post in Ludhiana

A head constable has been suspended and booked for raping the 24-year-old wife of a factory worker at Mundian police post in Ludhiana, police said on Monday.

A case was registered against absconding head constable Rakesh Kumar at Jamalpur police station on Sunday night after a probe ordered by Ludhiana police commissioner Rakesh Agarwal on the woman’s complaint on December 17.

The police are also investigating the role of police post in-charge assistant sub-inspector Sukhwinder Singh. He, along with 11 cops from the police post, have been transferred to police lines following a departmental inquiry against them.

In her letter to the police commissioner, the woman said she was taken to the police post by three women and one of their sons, who accused her of having illicit relations with their relative who was her husband’s friend and a frequent visitor. The woman alleged that the four had beaten her up, torn her clothes and even molested her besides making her video on their phone. The main accused is the aunt of her husband’s friend.

The complainant said the four barged into her house and assaulted her on December 3 when her husband was away to see his mother. The next day, she lodged a complaint at the Mundian police post but no action was taken.

On December 5, the four again thrashed her and the next day, they forcibly took her and her husband’s friend to the police post. At midnight, head constable Rakesh Kumar took the complainant to a room on the first floor of the police post on the pretext of questioning her in front of women police personnel, she complained, adding there was no woman present.

“The head constable raped me in the room and threatened to implicate my husband in a false case if I reported the matter. I did not lodge a complaint for 11 days, but finally gathered the courage to report the matter to the police commissioner,” she said.

Inspector Kulwant Singh, the station house officer at Jamalpur police station, said the head constable had been booked under Section 376-C (intercourse by superintendent of jail, remand home, etc), while the other accused were booked under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 354-B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) of the Indian Penal Code.

“The woman has alleged that the accused snatched her mobile phone and ₹1,600. More sections will be added in the FIR after the allegations are proved,” the inspector said, adding that a search was on for the head constable.