Spurt in crimes against women shocks state

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 15

Haryana is shocked over reports of rape and murder of young girls across the state, belying all claims by the government of making Haryana safe for women. The last two days have seen four rapes, wherein criminals not only exploited the victims, but in two cases, murdered them after the heinous crime.

A Dalit girl in Jind, who’s semi-naked body was found a day after the crime, was subjected to inhuman brutalities, similar to Nirbhaya, whose case had shocked the nation, forcing the Union government to amend rape laws.

Right across from the National Capital, a young woman returning from work was abducted and raped in a moving car on Saturday. The BJP government had been patting its back, claiming to have made the state safer by starting women police stations across Haryana.

What is most shocking is that even after the young woman was kidnapped and forced into a SUV, the beasts took turns and continued to rape the woman while the entire episode went unnoticed even as the state claimed to have raised security on account of Republic Day celebrations.

While Panipat was celebrating the number one slot in boosting sex ratio, the district was rocked by the news of murder of an 11-year-old Dalit girl, who was molested. When she raised an alarm, she was strangulated with her own shawl. As she lay dead, two drunk men forced themselves on the body and had sex with her corpse.

One of the two culprits, Pardeep Kumar, himself had a daughter of almost the same age as his victim. He had since been arrested along with other accused Sagar and sent to two-day police remand.

Close to the state capital, a 10-year-old girl was sexually abused by her neighbour. Despite her shrieks and shouts, he subjected her to unnatural sex to avenge a personal dispute with her parents.

Though, the accused had been arrested and sent to two-day police remand after being booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, people in the area were still terrified at the barbaric act by this 50-year-old on a girl who could be the age of his granddaughter.

Haryana ranked among the top in the country for gang rapes and crimes against women. According to the National Crime Record Bureau report for 2015, there were 204 gang rapes in the state, which came to 1.6 gang rapes per lakh women.

The same year, Rajasthan was in second spot with 1.2 gang rapes per lakh population. Delhi was at the third spot with 1 gang rape per lakh population.

During 2016, Haryana reported 1,090 murders, 1,189 rapes, 191 gang rapes and 4,019 kidnappings and abductions, which came to about three murders, three rapes and 11 kidnappings and abductions per day, on an average.

Haryana was the third highest in the country in terms of crime incidents. During 2016, it was the highest in cases of gang rape. The data for 2017 was still being tabulated.

The state government again tried to assuage public feelings by transferring some police officials in Faridabad, where the abductors moved around freely for two hours, raping the young woman in a moving vehicle. In the other places, the government was content with the arrest of the alleged accused.

In Pinjore, the police had arrested Tuki Ram (50). In Panipat, they had arrested Pardeep Kumar (27) and Sagar (22). In Faridabad, the police were clueless regarding the identity of the perpetrators or the vehicle used even 48 hours after the crime.

In the Jind case, the police were yet to arrest anyone. They suspected a student of Class XII, who went missing under mysterious circumstances from Jhansa village on January 9, to be behind the crime.

To suggest that the government was serious, the Chief Minister today summoned the state police chief to take stock of the situation. It had been learnt that the government was contemplating a legislation to start fast-track courts in Haryana to expedite cases of crimes against women.