Gang rape victim raped again, under police protection

Lucknow: In a shocking incident that reflects on the prevailing law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, a gang rape victim in Ferozabad district was kidnapped and gang raped again by the accused – this time while she was under police protection.

According to delayed reports reaching here, the victim was kidnapped, gang raped, strangled and dumped in an unconscious state in the fields on Wednesday night. Apparently the accused persons thought she was dead and left here there.

The victim was found on Thursday morning, lying unconscious in the field. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she told the doctors after regaining consciousness that she had been gang raped again by the accused.

Doctors at the district hospital confirmed that the girl had been gang-raped and the injury marks on her neck suggested serious attempts to strangulate her.

The Ferozabad police tried to conceal the incident and did not give out details. Later, when questioned, the SSP Ferozabad Rakesh Kumar Singh said that the victim’s condition was ‘not serious’.

The police had earlier rounded up the victim’s family and accused them of having sent the girl to some other place in order to implicate the accused persons.

It is noteworthy that two armed police constables are posted for her security of the victim after she was first gang raped.

The constables told local reporters that they were having dinner when the crime took place. When they heard a commotion they came out see what had happened but returned quickly to wear their shoes. By the time, they put on with their shoes, the accused had escaped.

The SSP, however, told reporters that the constables had informed him that the kidnap never took place.

The prime accused in the first gang rape case is Dalbir Singh and his wife is a village pradhan and wields strong influence across 18 villages in the district.

The couple is closely related to the ruling Samajwadi Party and is an important part of the SP election campaign.

Despite a named FIR, no action has been initiated against the named accused in the first gang rape case which took place in November last year under Eka police station.

On December 22, the survivor tested positive for pregnancy while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Lucknow. The family later sought intervention of then director general of police Rizwan Ahmed who directed the Ferozabad police to provide protection to the girl and also helped the family send the fetus for DNA profiling before the abortion.

Ever since then, the police have made no attempts whatsoever to secure samples of the named accused for DNA profiling to confirm if and who among them were responsible for the girl's condition.