When intimidation bought silence

Ravinder Saini in Jhajjar 

As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2016 report, in over 90 per cent of the rape cases, rapists were reported to be acquaintances of the victim. The Rewari gangrape of September 12 was no exception.

The prime suspect Pankaj (an Army jawan), was known to the 19-year-old victim. The girl’s father, a sportsman, had groomed Pankaj to compete as a state-level kabaddi player. He had also helped Pankaj secure a job in the Army under the sports quota. Pankaj, too, would give credit to his guru for his success. Before joining the Army, he even went to seek his blessings. No one could imagine the havoc he would wreck on the ‘guru’s’ family later.  

The victim, a BSc student, had enrolled in a coaching centre in Kanina town of Mahendragarh district. She and her father would commute together in a bus till the Kanina bus stand, from where the father would head for his job. 

According to a complaint lodged with the police, on the fateful day, Pankaj and his friend Manish met her on way to the coaching centre and offered her water that was laced with sedatives. She fell unconscious and found herself in a room near a tubewell on the outskirts of Nayagaon village. 

The third suspect Nishu Phogat was also there at that time. Around 5 pm, they dumped her near the Kanina bus stand. Manish  then called up her father, and asked him to take her home on the pretext of her deteriorating condition. 

“My daughter narrated her ordeal. We went to the Superintendent of Police in Rewari to initiate action against the accused. However, we were asked to lodge the complaint at the women police station. Initially, a woman sub-inspector refused to even hear us out. When we requested her to take prompt action, she threw away our complaint. She even tried to prove that it was a false accusation and made derogatory remarks about my daughter,” said the victim’s father. He also alleged that the woman sub-inspector made them wait for a long time in the police station and paid no heed to the health condition of the victim. Following the intervention from a senior officer, a Zero-FIR was lodged around 1 am on September 13. 

Next morning, the FIR was sent to Kanina police station. Delay in action by the police gave the accused ample time to flee the village. The police swung into the action only after the incident hit the headlines, said the distressed father.  

The tubewell room, where the crime was committed, had been the centre of nefarious activities. Gangsters from Nayagaon and nearby villages like Bahu Jhholari, Unhani and Chelavaas would  assemble there. 

Nishu was also an active member of one such gang. He was also involved in another molestation case, which was ‘settled’ at the panchayat level.  

As per villagers, the gang members would consume liquor, forcibly bring girls to the tubewell and shoot videos. The room had facilities like electricity, bed, refrigerator and music system. Villagers were aware of the situation, but none dared to bring this to the authorities’ notice. Such was the terror of the gang. 

“Some villagers and gang members also got into a brawl over what was happening. The clash turned violent and persons from both sides were injured. The gang members called several armed-youths from other villages. The villagers were so terrified that they did not raise an objection again,” informs a villager. 

Sensing the gravity of the situation, a village panchayat ordered to put a stop to the nefarious activities. It had also warned the gang members. The instructions were followed for a few days, but the criminal activities resumed later.