4 held after girl ‘jumps into canal to save modesty’
VICTIM’S FATHER SAYS SHE WENT TO A SHRINE WITH FEMALE FRIENDS; MEN JOINED THEM AND, AIDED BY THE FRIENDS, TRIED TO FORCE THEMSELVES ON HER
A 17-year-old girl purportedly killed herself by jumping into a canal to save herself from rape while on an excursion trip with friends near Anandpur Sahib in the early hours of Sunday, police said here on Monday. While the body is yet to be recovered, four persons have been arrested; they include the victim’s two female friends who are also minor (under 18) and hence not being named.
According to Rupnagar senior superintendent of police (SSP) Raj Bachan Singh Sandhu, a man from Kurali (Mohali) gave a statement at the Anandpur Sahib police station in the district that, on September 2 (Saturday) his 17-year-old daughter informed him on telephone that she and her two female friends were going to the Naina Devi shrine nearby to pay obeisance and that they would return next morning.
It is alleged that two men — Jasvir Singh alias Satnam of Kurali and Gurjot Singh alias Jot of Chatamla village (Rupnagar), both aged around 23 — also reached there that night after being called by the two female friends.
The father said he got a call around 7.30pm on Sunday from a man, who identified himself as Anil Kumar of Kurali, that “some mishappening” had occurred and that he should reach Anandpur Sahib. There, he learnt that his daughter had jumped into the Bhakra Canal around 1.30am last night near the town.
He alleged that the two men — helped by the victim’s female friends — tried to “make physical relations” with his daughter the previous night near the canal, at which she jumped and drowned in order “to save her modesty”.
The case has been registered under section 366 (kidnapping) and 376 (rape) read with 511(attempting to commit offences), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, besides under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The two arrested girls were produced in a juvenile court and sent to the government shelter Nari Niketan in Jalandhar till September 13. The two men are in police custody.