JNUSU stages protest; rape accused sent to 14-day judicial custody
NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) on Thursday staged a protest in front of the Delhi Police Headquarters and submitted a memorandum to the Commissioner of Police in which the union questioned the role of police in the alleged leak of information about the rape victim.
The protest was led by JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid Shora and general secretary Rama Naga. Both are members of All India Students’ Association (AISA).
“We submitted our memorandum to police to stop the flow of information in public that could lead to character assassination of the complainant,” said Rama Naga.
“The fact that details of the hearing came out in the newspaper which indicates towards leakage of information including details of the identity of the complainant by the police. The statement included indication of the identity of the complainant. These are more serious offences and more distressing of happening by the way of information being provided to the media by the police,” added Naga.
The JNUSU will also organise a protest at the administration block at 11 am on August 26 to demand suspension of the accused. However, the BJPbacked ABVP was not a part of the team at the police headquarters. “AISA is faking concerns for women safety. The fact is that the accused Annol Ratan was a leading activist of AISA,” said Saurabh Sharma of ABVP.
Meanwhile, Annol Ratan was sent to 14-day judicial custody by a city Court on Thursday. The cops also informed that mobile phones of both the 28-year-old rape victim and the accused have been seized by police for forensic tests.
The victim and the accused had first started interacting on Facebook and were also in touch over phone which have been seized for forensic tests, a senior police officer said on Thursday.
“On Wednesday, Pooja’s father, who is a tea vendor, visited her daughter’s house and later left for some work. Meanwhile, Rinki and Rahul entered the house and strangled her. Rahul gave Rs 200 to Rinki and asked her to meet at Janakpuri Metro station after 10 minutes. Rahul started dragging her body to hide it somewhere inside the house,” a senior police official close to investigation said. In the meantime, Pooja’s father returned and caught Rahul red handed. He immediately made a call to the Police Control Room and a team reached the spot to arrest Rahul. Meanwhile, a team reached Janakpuri Metro station and nabbed Rinki. “The duo confessed to their involvement and have been arrested under the section of murder,” police said. Pooja’s body has been handed over to her family after the post-mortem examination while the autopsy report is awaited.