The barely adult woman was raped in turns in front of her husband while the perpetrators kept roughing up the man. They videotaped the act and later extorted the couple, despite which they circulated the video on social media.
New Delhi: The Alwar gang-rape of an 18-year-old Dalit woman by five men is one of the worst chapters in caste and gender crime and police inaction and possible connivance, but the Left and so-called liberal intelligentsia in India hardly raised its voice. PM Narendra Modi had to remind them of their selective silence and attempt to shield the Congress government in power in Rajasthan.
The barely adult woman was raped in turns in front of her husband while the perpetrators kept roughing up the man. They videotaped the act and later extorted the couple, despite which they circulated the video on social media.
But the Rajasthan Police reportedly refused to file the case because of elections and took action almost 10 days after the incident. Cops waste crucial time during which the victim was threatened by the accused, extorted Rs 10,000 and even circulated the video of the sexual assault on social media.
The victim’s family alleged that cops insisted that they would have to wait for polling to end in the area. Polling was done in Alwar district on May 6 and shockingly the first arrest in the case came a day later on May 7.
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Investigation details reveal that Alwar police botched up the case step by step. The FIR was not registered until May 2, three days after the matter was first reported on April 30. The woman’s statement was recorded almost a week after the FIR. Till that time accused had a free run and even threatened the victim’s family.
Now, after much furore, the SC/ST commission has asked the local police to file a case against the police officers for showing laxness in the case.
In the chilling confession made to the Alwar police, the accused have reportedly said that they spontaneously decided to rape the woman. “We just saw her and decided to gang rape her,” accused told the cops.
The accused had gone to the market to buy cold drinks when they spotted the victim and her husband travelling on a motorcycle. The two accused then called their other three men, Indraj, Mahesh and Hansraj and started following the couple on their motorcycles. After tracking them for a few kilometres they stopped them and gang-raped the woman. MyNation digs out details of the horrifying gang rape. Here is a timeline of the incident.
On April 26, around 3 PM, the victim was travelling with her husband on a motorcycle on the Thanagaji-Alwar road. The FIR said that two of the accused stopped the motorcycle and started thrashing the husband. They stripped the couple and raped the woman in front of her husband.
The victim was raped multiple times in three hours and one of the accused also shot a video. They also took money for not circulating the video. No police came to their rescue for these three hours.
The victim confined to a few of her family members as she was trying to come out of the trauma.
The family claimed that the accused called the victim's husband on April 28 and demanded Rs 10,000. They threated that they will circulate the video if not paid.
The family claimed that on April 29, the victim's brother told other family members about the incident and also few of them spoke with the accused when they called.
The victim decided to approach the police. On the same day, she along with her husband went to the office of Superintendent of Police (SP). However, SP Rajeev Pachar asked the victim and her family to go to the SHO of Thanagaji police station. The SHO received the complaint but FIR was not lodged.
The victim again contacted the SHO and the officer told them that due to elections he will not file any case or investigate the case. The victim, on the same day, contacted SP Pachar but he also gave the same excuse and refused to file a case. Meanwhile, the accused circulated the video on WhatsApp.
After protests erupted, the Alwar police finally lodged an FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the SC/ST Act.
People took to the roads to protest against the laxness of the police. The matter also become political after opposition parties raised the issue. Moreover, the police conducted medical tests but neither their statements were recorded nor the accused were arrested.
Police tried to trace the accused but failed. Finally, on May 8, the Alwar police arrested few of the accused after pumping efforts of 14 teams. However, the prime accused was still on the run. Meanwhile, facing immense pressure from the public, the Congress government removed SP Rajeev and the SHO.
Thirteen days after the incident, the Alwar police arrested all the accused. They were identified as Hansraj Gurjar, Chotelal, Ashok Gujjar, Mahesh Gujjar and Indraj Gujjar.
National SC/ST Commission Vice Chairman L Murgan recommended that an FIR be registered against police officers whose alleged negligence led to delay in action in the Alwar gang rape case.
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