SHO, 3 other cops suspended over Alwar minor’s rape case

BJP accuses Cong MLA of shielding culprits; MLA refutes

JAIPUR/ALWAR: Rajasthan police on Thursday suspended a station house officer and three other police personnel after a rape survivor attempted suicide and six days later her father died of suicide, as the accused kept on pressuring the family to withdraw their complaint, after the police failed to book them under relevant sections of law, shows internal inquiry conducted by the police.

On June 18, around 4 pm, Ramgarh police station in Alwar district got information that a 17-year-old girl jumped into a well to kill herself because of sexual harassment by village men. The girl was rescued by her brother. The duty officer went to spot and visited the girl’s house but didn’t take their complaint, started a preliminary inquiry report, conducted by the police following rape charges being pressed against the accused on directions of the court.

“Instead of registering a complaint on the spot, he (the police constable) asked the family to visit the police station for filing complaint,” the inquiry report said. The girl’s brother came to the police station around 5 pm and gave a complaint against 22-year-old Anish Mev for sexually harassing his sister.

As the brother did not mention the word rape, police took her complaint of sexual harassment. “As per the victim’s brother’s complaint, an FIR for assaulting woman to outrage her modesty (section 354 of the IPC) and under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) should have been registered,” said legal expert Shantanu Sharma.

The next day – June 19 – the girl’s brother went to the police station wanting to know what happened to this complaint. The police made him sit for several hours without any action on his complaint.

When he told them that the accused was threatening him to withdraw his complaint, police arrested Anish and his two friends – 32-year-old Mahmood Mev and 19-year-old Taufiq Mev – under preventive sections of 151 of the CrPC to prevent the commission of cognizable offences.

On June 20, the three got bail from SDM court. “For two days, police didn’t register FIR in the case. ASI Kamal Deen misbehaved with the family and made objectionable remarks against the victim,” the police report said.

It was only on June 20 evening, after some Hindu organisations and BJP leaders intervened, that a case under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 506 (criminal intimidation), 354 (assaulting woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of IPC, and sections 11 and 12 of the POCSO Act, was registered against Anish, and he was arrested. The other accused were still not arrested.

On June 24, when the girl was to record her statement before magistrate, her father was found hanging from a tree near their house. When the family said the man was killed, police registered a case of murder. IG (Jaipur Range) S Sengathir said they hadn’t found evidence to suggest it was a murder. “The medical board that conducted autopsy said the death was by hanging,” he said.

On June 25, after the girl’s statement was recorded before the magistrate, where she spelt out her ordeal and gang rape by four youth of her village, a case of rape was lodged. “We added relevant sections for rape in the FIR, Sengathir said.

“The police officers didn’t take the matter seriously,” said additional superintendent of police (City) Shiv Lal Bairwa, who conducted the inquiry.

Meanwhile, the case had taken a political turn. Former BJP MLA Gyandeo Ahuja alleged that supporters of Congress MLA from Ramgarh, Shafia Zubair, were pressuring the girl’s family to withdraw the case. He demanded a probe by the crime branch.

The Congress MLA said BJP was trying to play politics in the case.

“They raise issues to create communal tension. They are experts at dividing Hindus and Muslims for political gain,” she said, and denied the charges.