Two years after police clean chit, duo rapes girl again

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 25

An 18-year-old girl attempted suicide yesterday, two days after she was raped by two youths. The latter had allegedly raped her in 2014 as well, but the district police had given them the clean chit.

The girl, who works as a nurse in a private hospital in Model Town here, was allegedly abducted by the accused from the Preet Palace Market road, near the Atam Nagar ACP’s office. She was taken to a cinema parking lot, where the rape took place on Wednesday evening.

The girl, who took an overdose of medicines, has been admitted to the Civil Hospital. ACP Ramandeep Singh Bhullar met the girl’s father, Jaswinder Singh, at the hospital today.

The police have registered a case under Section 376-D (gangrape) of the IPC against Charanjit Singh Soni and Narinder Singh, both aged 20.

The victim was a minor when she had been gangraped by four youths, who were also minor then. Two of them — Charanjit and Narinder — were let off as the police claimed that there was no evidence against the duo.

The ACP said the two accused were named in a gangrape case registered on October 4, 2014. They were given the clean chit by the Daba police as their role in the crime could not be established.

He said a challan against two other accused was presented in a juvenile court, adding that the case was sub judice.

“We have recorded the girl’s statement. We will also procure CCTV footage of the crime scene,” the ACP added.

Jaswinder said his daughter had appeared in the court for a hearing in the 2014 gangrape case on Thursday. “The two accused, both undertrials, taunted my daughter with obscene gestures. They probably knew that their accomplices had raped her again,” he said.