#NCW appeals ‘mass rape’ victims to come forward; promises confidentiality
Jat agitation: State police claim reports of rapes are “incorrect” as locals and possible victims have denied allegations
unable to trace any victim in the alleged mass rape case in Murthal village in Haryana during the Jat quota agitation, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has now urged any possible complainants to approach them.
“The NCW has so far been able to contact eight families whose cars were burnt down or damaged. Of these, two families had women members. But all of them have denied they were sexually assaulted or that they saw anyone else being raped,” said Ms. Sharma.
The NCW has also been able to get through to six truck drivers and cleaners whose vehicles were set ablaze by the violent mob around the same time and the same place as the alleged rapes, but they too maintained there was no sexual abuse, the NCW member claimed.
The reason, Ms. Sharma believes that these persons could have been tutored, is because before she could speak to them, most of these persons had already received phone calls from the police.
“We promise complete confidentiality to those who approach us. We can be reached at 011-26944823/4,” she said on Thursday, a day after visiting Murthal.
Efforts are also on to trace any eyewitnesses or saviours in the alleged crime that according to The Tribune report took place around 3 a.m. on Monday. Apart from the authors of that news report, there is also an RTI activist who claims to have spoken to “eyewitnesses”.
“Four of the six persons I interacted with in the two villages near Murthal said that the mob had dragged the women into the fields, torn their clothes and made sexual advances towards them. But they stopped short of using the ‘rape’ word,” said P.P. Kapoor, the RTI activist.
He claimed they feared for their safety. “If there is an external investigating agency, they will be willing to reveal everything,” Mr. Kapoor told The Hindu .
On Wednesday, the Punjab & Haryana High Court had taken a suo motu cognisance of the news report of the alleged incident. “Today (Thursday) we requested the court to order a CBI probe or at least transfer the officials of the riot-torn area to ensure a fair investigation in the case, but the court said it may do so in the due course of time,” said Utsav Bains, a lawyer. Bains said the court would wait for some complainants to appear before giving any orders.
The State police, meanwhile, on Thursday claimed that their questioning of the locals and the possible victims has suggested that the reports of rapes were “incorrect”. Yashpal Singhal, DGP (Haryana), however, added that proper investigations would be conducted if any complainant comes forward at any point of time.
The Hindu had visited Murthal on Wednesday and interacted with dozens of locals across three villages in bid to get the accounts of eyewitnesses. Each of them, however, denied any such incident.
The Tribune had reported that at least 10 women commuters passing through Murthal had been raped in the fields by the highway around 3 a.m. on Monday by a 30-odd mob.
Senior IPS officer suspended
Haryana government on Thursday suspended senior IPS officer and former IGP Rohtak, Shrikant Jadhav and two DSPs following allegations of omission and commission in containing the Jat reservation agitation and related violence in Rohtak. The State government, under fire over “inept” handling of the Jat stir, appointed an ADGP-rank Nodal Investigation Officer for investigating the Jat agitation cases. “Former Rohtak IG Shrikant Jadhav and two Rohtak DSPs Amit Dahiya and Amit Bhatia have been suspended with immediate effect,” Haryana’s Additional Chief Secretary (Home) P.K. Das said. When asked on what charges they had been suspended, he said, “This is on the basis of allegations of omission and commission in containing agitation and related violence in Rohtak.” Sanjay Kumar, IGP, Administration, Panchkula has been posted as IGP, Rohtak Range, Rohtak, against the vacancy. Veer Singh, ACP, Faridabad has been posted as DSP, Rohtak, while Vivek Chaudhary, DSP, Mewat, has been also been posted as DSP, Rohtak. —PTI
‘We requested the court to order a CBI probe or at least transfer officials of the area for a fair investigation’
