Murthal: Gangrape charge added to FIR : The Tribune India

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Murthal: Gangrape charge added to FIR

CHANDIGARH: Rapped by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for faulty investigation into the Murthal case, the Haryana Police have taken a U-turn on the earlier stand that “all is well” and added the offence of gangrape to the FIR.



Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 11

Rapped by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for faulty investigation into the Murthal case, the Haryana Police have taken a U-turn on the earlier stand that “all is well” and added the offence of gangrape to the FIR.

The offence under Section 376-D of the IPC was added after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) looking into the alleged sexual assault on women by 30 goons at Murthal during the Jat quota stir took note of the letters by a student and a non-resident Indian from Australia alleging rape.

The Haryana Police have been so far denying the occurrence of rape during the reservation stir. Two judges of the High Court had separately taken suo motu cognisance of a report in The Tribune on the alleged sexual assault.

The FIR was registered on March 30 on the complaint of Delhi resident-cum-witness Bobby Joshi after the Haryana Police were admonished by the High Court for inaction on a previous date of hearing. As the case came up for resumed hearing, a status report by Inspector-General of Police (South Range)-cum-SIT in charge Mamta Singh was placed before the Bench of Justices SS Saron and Gurmit Ram.

Mamta stated in the report that an anonymous letter by a student was forwarded by the Faridabad Commissioner of Police. Another letter by an NRI woman was forwarded by a news channel.

“Since the contents of both communications reveal the commission of offence under Section 376-D of the IPC, the relevant section has been added. Further investigation will be conducted on these communications to verify contents of the communication…“Keeping in view sensitivity of the matter, utmost care has been taken to keep secret the identity of victims,” she added.

Mamta said the contents of the anonymous letter revealed that the victim was a final-year degree student. Her father had come to take her from hostel during weekdays. Referring to the other letter, Mamta said the NRI woman landed at the airport here from Australia on February 21 and was travelling on the National Highway-1 near Murthal when she was raped. In the letter, the woman had also given “names of a few relatives, who arrived with her that day”.

Amicus curiae (friend of the court) Anupam Gupta said the state had moved forward from “shameless denial” to “conditional acknowledgement” of the incident. He also demanded the placing of letters before the Bench.

Additional Solicitor-General of India Tushar Mehta requested Gupta to share the video/audio recordings on the incident. Turning down the request, Gupta said the recent efforts made by the SIT were appreciable, but it was yet to be seen whether the changes were cosmetic or actual.

“I don’t have much faith in the Haryana Police and the danger of subversion of justice still exists,” Gupta said. “At stake is the identify and safety of the victims.” Gupta said he was willing to show the tapes to the court in camera, but not to the SIT at the current stage. The Bench fixed May 4 as the next date of hearing and directed the SIT to submit a fresh status report on the investigation.


Since the contents of both communications (one by a student and another by an NRI from Australia) reveal the commission of offence under Section 376-D of the IPC, the relevant section has been added.— Mamta Singh, SIT Incharge

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