Dalit Parents Of Gang Raped Girl Allege Delayed Police Intervention

An Alwar-based Dalit family has accused the police of not taking on-time action by filing FIR in a case of the alleged gang rape of a 18-year-old girl. They claim that the police gave the excuse of ‘increased workload’ during election time for not taking action in the case.

It says that had the police taken timely action, the accused could have been arrested earlier and prevented the video from being circulated.

After allegedly committing the crime of gang rape, the accused persons went ahead and uploaded the video of the crime on social media. Now the family has blamed the police for the video going viral. It says that had the police taken timely action, the accused could have been arrested earlier and prevented the video from being circulated.

After the case gained momentum, the state government on Tuesday removed Alwar SP Rajeev Pachar. Additional chief secretary, home, Rajeeva Swarup said that Pachar’s further posting order is awaited. The Station House Officer (SHO) of Thana Ghazi police station, Alwar has also been suspended for the delay in the initial action. On the political side, BJP state president Madan Lal Saini condemned the incident and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who holds the portfolio of the home department. Saini added that nine cases of rape took place in Udaipurwati (Jhunjhunu) in 21 days and two cases of abduction of brides have happened since Gehlot’s term.

“They filmed the act and threatened to kill my husband and also to made the video viral before leaving us there,” the complainant has said in the FIR.

The incident happened on April 26 when five men on their motorcycle stopped the girl and her husband. The girl who registered the FIR stated in it that the men forcibly took them amidst isolated hillocks where the five men took turns to rape her in front of her husband for two hours.

“They filmed the act and threatened to kill my husband and also to made the video viral before leaving us there,” the complainant has said in the FIR.

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The husband of the survivor mustered up the courage to report the matter with the police and went to Alwar SP’s office on April 30. “The SP heard us and later officials of the Thana Ghazi police station went with us to the spot where the crime had taken place and conducted our medical examinations,” said the victim’s husband to IE.

While the husband visited the police on April 30, the FIR was lodged on May 2 which is when the police also took action. They had started the investigation on April 30 but delayed taking action.

“We were constantly getting threatening calls from the accused who had also taken money from my brother and was blackmailing him for more. We implored the police to take action as we feared they would circulate the video. The police, including officials of the Thana Ghazi police station, told us that due to election work, they have less personnel and so asked us to wait till the elections got over,”

“We were constantly getting threatening calls from the accused who had also taken money from my brother and was blackmailing him for more. We implored the police to take action as we feared they would circulate the video. The police, including officials of the Thana Ghazi police station, told us that due to election work, they have less personnel and so asked us to wait till the elections got over,” the husband’s brother told The Indian Express on Tuesday.

“The police stepped into action only after the video was circulated on social media by the accused…,” he added.

Media reported on Tuesday that five of the accused have been booked and the police have arrested one of them, Indraj Gurjar. Four others identified as Chotelal, Ashok, Hansraj, and Mangesh are still absconding. “We have constituted 14 teams which are searching for the absconding accused we hope to nab them soon,” said Rajasthan Director General of Police (DGP) Kapil Garg.

More Stories by Poorvi Gupta