5 police teams yet to make headway in minor’s rape case in Banswara

JAIPUR: Five teams of 50 police personnel, one deputy superintendent of police, five inspectors and a reward of Rs 5,000, but the Banswara district police are still clueless about the accused who raped a five-year-old minor two months back.

Two men had reportedly gone to the rape survivor’s home where she was playing with her 10-year-old brother on October 7.

“We suspect that the accused are known to family members of the victim,” said Gopi Chand Meena, Banswara’s Bagidora circle DSP. “On the day of the incident when the duo abducted the victim, her brother was playing inside home but he has been not been able to identify the accused, which is creating problem for us to identify the accused.”

Meena added that the kids had refused the accused to enter home which “indicates they are either from their family or someone very close to them.”

The police officer said that the victim’s family was not cooperating, but the suspects were being questioned. “First of all, the family members are not cooperating. Second, the victim is a five-year-old kid. Initially, she was in mental trauma after the incident,” the officer told.

The police had announced a cash reward of Rs 5,000 for anyone providing information about the accused. Five teams comprising a DSP, five station house officers and 50 police personnel are working together to identify the accused and nab him.

The victim’s father works in Ahmedabad. On the day of the incident, the victim’s mother had gone to work in a nearby field, when the accused sent the victim’s brother to fetch water and sexually assaulted the girl.

The girl was later admitted to the Mahatma Gandhi Hospital.

Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje had tweeted about the incident on October 10: “The incidents of rape and cruelty against girls in the state have crossed the limits. The dam of public patience has been broken. The incident of rape of a fiveyear-old girl in Banswara has again embarrassed Rajasthan.”

Locals and students of colleges and schools protested against the incident and police failure to arrest the accused. One and a half months back, a Banswara bandh was called against the inaction of police. Thousands of people carried out rallies , demanding arrest and death sentence for the two accused.