Brother of accused tries to blind gangrape victim

VICTIM IS MENTALLY CHALLENGED

A 17- YEAR-OLD mentally challenged gangrape victim was allegedly attacked by the brother of her alleged rapist causing serious injuries to her eyes in Unnao district. The victim’s family and police said Wednesday’s attack was an attempt to blind the girl so that shecan’tidentifyherallegedrapist whoiscurrentlylodgedinjail.she was shifted to KGMU in Lucknow on Thursday.

The person who attacked her, Puttan — brother of one of the gangrape accused Munna Singh — was arrested on Thursday. He had allegedly followed the girl while she was on her way to a nearby field on Wednesday afternoon and hit her with a stick. As locals arrived at the spot hearing the girl’s cries, he fled.

Unnao SP Neha Pandey said Puttan wanted to ensure that the victim could not identify the accused by seeing them. As she cannot speak properly, it would have been difficult for her to name them.“sheismentallychallenged and a minor too. The accused wanted to injure her eyes. She has sustained injuries in her eyes and other parts of the body. Initially, we took her to LLR Hospital in Kanpur but she has now been referred to KGMU in Lucknow for better treatment,” added Pandey. Puttan could also been booked under NSA, the SP said.

Safipur police Circle Officer Ashok Singh said: “Puttan’s brother is in jail. He has been threatening the family and the victim to withdraw the case for a long time.”

Asked about the condition of the girl’s eyes, doctors at LLR said that it would only be possible after the surgery to confirm whether she would be able to see.

The girl, who was 15 when she was gangraped, had conceived following the assault. She had given birth to a girl in April, last year. However, the child died within a month.

On May 15, 2015, Munna Singh (42) and Mathai (20) were booked for alleged rape and under Protection of Child from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). They were arrested after the victim became pregnant. The case is now under trial.

The girl’s father, a labourer, said his wife had died after the delivery of their fourth daughter, who has been mentally challenged since birth. “While two of my daughters are married, one is 15 years old. I hope for justice,” he said.

PTI One of three accused in the Bhopal-ujjain train blast case outside the district court in Bhopal. The NIA took over the case from Madhya Pradesh Police on Thursday.