Ludhiana rape victim’s burning still a mystery

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 12

It is still a mystery how the six accused who allegedly set on fire a 17-year-old girl on December 4 escaped from the spot without being noticed by anyone.

No one in the densely populated Prem Nagar locality in the Dhandari area has claimed to have seen the accused escaping from the spot after the incident.

Members of victim’s family said Shahzad, Anwar, Babbu, Binder, Amarjit and Niaz were notorious goons of the area and the residents were afraid of speaking against them.

Shambnam and Tehmeen, living as tenants in the victim’s house and possibly the only two eyewitnesses who first saw the girl in flames, also did not see the accused. The duo said they were watching television downstairs when the incident took place (on the first floor). “Though the volume of the television was not very high, they did not hear anything (screams or crying),” they said.

The duo said they saw the girl when she came running towards the bathroom downstairs. “We were shocked. She doused the fire. By that time some neighbours had also reached there. The injured girl was rushed to the hospital,” they said.

Mohd Afaak Ansari, a youth living in the neighbourhood, said perhaps the accused made their way into the house from an upper floor. After gagging the girl, they tied her hands with the staircase and set her on fire by pouring kerosene.

“There is a burn mark on the floor, but there is no sign of struggle or burn mark on the staircase,” said an investigating officer.

Victim’s elder brother said when his sister was taken to the Civil Hospital, Duty Magistrate Karandeep Kaur reached there to record her statement. “Impression is being given out as if we had influenced the girl to name the accused. But the truth is that we were told to stand outside the room as my sister narrated everything to the Duty Magistrate. Later, she made a similar statement in front of ACP (South) Rupinder Kaur,” he said.

Meanwhile, Focal Point SHO Surinder Singh said the sixth accused in the case, Babbu, was arrested this morning for Ludhiana.