In yet another spine chilling incident, a 35-year-old woman, a mother of five children, was allegedly gang-raped by 17 men in Dumka district of Jharkhand, as her husband was held hostage on Tuesday night.
On the basis of the complaint lodged by the woman on Wednesday, the police have registered an FIR against 17 people including a person known to the survivor. Based on the statement to the police, the deputy inspector general (DIG) of Santhal region, Sudarshan Mandal and Dumka superintendent of police (SP) Ambar Lakra visited the village of the victim to investigate the matter.
The Incident
The crime allegedly took place on Tuesday night in Dumka district of Jharkhand under Mufassil police station around 300 km northeast of the capital Ranchi, when the woman was returning from a weekly village market with her husband.
“As per the statement of the woman, she was returning with her husband from a village market on Tuesday night when 17 people intercepted her and took her husband hostage before committing the crime,” the DIG Sudarshan Mandal said. “The woman said she could identify only one person. We have detained the accused for interrogation. If his involvement was found in the crime, he would be sent to jail,” he added.
The DIG, who was speaking over the phone from the victim’s village, said, “We are interrogating the villagers regarding the crime. We are investigating the matter meticulously, as the woman is changing her statement. When I was interrogating her in her village, she said there were five persons involved in the crime.”
Meanwhile, National Commission for Women has taken suo moto cognizance of the case. NCW Chairperson has written to Jharkhand DGP seeking adherence to guidelines of MHA of completing probe in 2 months in cases of sexual assault. NCW has also sought detailed action taken report in the case.
On the other hand, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has blamed the JMM-led government for rising rape cases in the state. Former social welfare minister and senior BJP leader Louis Marandi said, “Law and order situation has deteriorated in the state. The rape cases have become frequent in tribal districts. Tribals are not safe under this government.”
Similar incident
In a separate incident, a 16-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped last week by four persons, including a minor boy, in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district. According to the sources, the accused had filmed the heinous act on a mobile phone. Further, while threatening to circulate the video on social media platforms, they raped the teenage girl for the second time on Sunday, following which she narrated her ordeal to her family members who then informed the police.
Police then registered a case and arrested three of the accused, identified as Shishu Rajak Sheikh Ramzan, Sandip Rajak. Their 16-year-old accomplice has been detained.
