No headway in Mohali rape case

Mohali, April 18

Three days after the rape of a 22-year-old newlywed woman in a car in broad daylight, the Mohali police have failed to make any headway.

A sketch of the suspect has been prepared on the basis of the details provided by the victim. But the police did not release it to the public or the media stating that it would alert the rapist.

“We have distributed the copies of the sketch among all police parties and PCRs. The suspect is bulky and clean shaven,” said the police. Apart from that, the police have lifted the dump of mobile calls from the spot to get any clue.

“Footages of various CCTVs installed on the route taken by the suspect after giving a lift to the victim are also being scrutinised,” said Mohali SSP Harcharan Singh Bhullar. He admitted that so far the police were clueless about the identity of the suspect.

The police claimed that they got a CCTV footage, which was showing that the victim was sitting in a white Toyota Etios Liva cab after opening its door, but the suspect and the vehicle’s registration number were not seen in the clip.

The victim, who is an employee of a local call centre, got married around two months ago. “As it was a love marriage, the families of the victim and her husband were not supporting them. The couple came to Mohali after their marriage and started working in the same company,” said a senior police official here.

Cops ‘unaware’ of zero FIR concept, one-stop centre

The issue of jurisdiction between officials of the Sohana police station and the Phase 8 police station while registering an FIR in the case clearly indicated that the local policemen were unaware of the zero FIR concept or the one-stop centre/sakhi police station. As the victim was being shuttled between the two police stations by the cops before the registration of an FIR at the Sohana police station, a senior police official admitted that zero FIR should have been registered in such case or the victim should have been taken to the one-stop centre in Phase 6 for further action. — TNS

What is zero FIR

Zero FIR is a FIR that can be filed in any police station regardless of the place of incidence or jurisdiction. The same is later transferred to the police station having competent jurisdiction after investigation and filing with a magistrate.

Woman commission notice to Punjab Police

Meanwhile, the National Woman Commission has issued a notice to the Punjab Police DGP for not taking action on time in the case. The notice has been issued following news reports published in a section of media here. The commission has sought the details of the case from the police and directed them to take appropriate action against the guilty cops and send the report to it in this regard.