Torn clothes found 20 m from body

LUCKNOW: The horrific scene outside the primary school in Balsinghkheda village of Mohanlalganj clearly narrated the story of extreme cruelty to which the 32-year-old unidentified woman was subjected to on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.

“The school verandah and the handpump (barely 10 metres from the school building) were stained with blood all over,” said a cop, who was among the first to reach the spot. The assailants were at least two in number, he said.

The deceased’s torn clothes (a party wear suit & leggings) and a sandal were found lying at least 20 metres away from the body, said the cop, adding that the struggle marks were visible on the ground where the clothes were found. All this suggests that the assailants chased her when she tried to run away, he said.

He said the injury marks below the woman’s eyes and face clearly showed that she was brutally beaten up when she tried to resist them.

“The dragging marks on the ground -- from the verandah to the handpump -- indicate that the woman may have been alive after the assailants fled. She apparently crawled to the handpump and tried to drink water,” suggested the cop. He said the woman crawled again towards the school gate to get some help, but succumbed to injuries. NO FEAR OF LAW: ACTIVISTS

Nearly 19 months after the gruesome Delhi gangrape, a similar incident in Mohanlalganj shows that women are still unsafe.

“The incident has created a fear among girls and women of the village,” said a woman of Balsinghkheda village. She said her teenage daughters had refused to go out of the house alone after coming to know about the incident. Roop Rekha Verma, a women’s activist, said, “The situation will not change only with amendments in law. Law enforcement agencies too have to become more sensitive towards crime against women.”

Another social activist Madhu Garg said the brutality in the case shows that there is no fear of law in the state. “How would criminals get scared when there is no conviction here?” she asked. BJP THREATENS STIR The BJP has said that it will launch an agitation on the issue of law and order if the criminals involved in the rape and brutal murder of the woman are not arrested within 48 hours. State BJP president Laxmikant Bajpai said such incidents showed that the government had poor command over its officers.