20-yr-old woman allegedly gangraped on way to tuition class in Haryana

A 20-year-old woman, who once topped the 10th standard Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board examination from Haryana’s Rewari district, was allegedly abducted and gangraped in Kanina by at least three men while she was on her way to a coaching centre, also in Kanina, the police and her family said on Friday.

Police in Mahendragarh district, neighbouring Rewari, said they had formed a special investigation team (SIT) and launched a hunt for the alleged rapists. Kanina (Mahendragarh) deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Vinod Kumar is heading the team.

“I have seen the medical reports of the victim, there is no serious internal or external injury. But we have sent the swab reports to a forensic lab for further test,” Kumar said.

“We received the complaint from the victim, who was taken for medical examination. After medical examination, we registered a case of gangrape against three youths and sent the zero FIR to Kanina police for further investigation,” station house officer (SHO), women’s police station, Heeramani Devi, said.

The woman’s mother said her daughter is in shock and recovering in a hospital in Rewari.

“As my daughter is still under shock, she is unable to give a statement... in front of a magistrate. Once her condition gets better, she will give her statement,” she added.

On Friday evening, the state women’s commission chairperson Pratibha Suman visited the victim at the Rewari civil hospital and said the panel had asked the police to provide security to family members of the woman.

“I have personally talked with the victim; she is stable now. Being chairperson, I have asked the police to send proper investigation reports to the commission. The commission will also look into the facts and findings of the police and if anyone is found guilty, the commission will recommend action,” she said.

The woman’s father said he had left the victim at a bus stand on Wednesday, from where she was to catch a bus to Kanina where she was attending lessons for a railway examination.

According to the police complaint, she was accosted by the three men, who are from the same village, who started asking her about the coaching centre.

As she talked to them, the men offered her water which she drank and fell unconscious, according to the complaint.

The three then took her in a car to an agriculture field in Kanina where they raped her, said the complaint, which also alleged that they called some other men who took turns to rape her.

“When my daughter told me about the incident, I took her to the superintendent of police’s office, but it was evening by then, and the SP was not at the office. We took her to women’s police station, where we lodged a complaint. The police registered a Zero FIR (first information report) on the matter,” the victim’s father said.

A zero FIR can be filed at any police station, irrespective of the place of the incident, and can be later transferred to the relevant station.

The woman’s father alleged that soon after the alleged rapists came to know about the FIR, they started threatening the family to withdraw the complaint.

“Now we are under fear and our request to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar is to ask the police to arrest the accused soon,” the victim’s mother said.

Mahendragarh SP Vinod Kumar (who shares his name with the Kanina DSP) said none of the rapists had been arrested so far.

“We have formed Special Investigation Team to investigate and arrest the accused. We got important clues about the whereabouts of the accused and the teams will nab them soon.” He said the police will record the victim’s statement once her condition improves. “We have also sent (her) blood samples to know about the drug the accused used.”