news details |
|
|
| Cops raped 80-yr old woman, allege Doda villagers | | DC Sharief-ud-Din: Two cops have been arrested after identification parade of 18, FIR lodged, further investigation is on | | MLA Majid Wani: I have sufficient reason to believe rape was committed; I will follow culprits to hell if system did not work
Zafar Choudhary & Sumit Sharma
Jammu, July 5: While the heat and dust kicked over rape and murder of two women in Shopian is yet to settle down that another more shocking incident of alleged rape by the cops of Special Task Force of the Jammu and Kashmir Police have come to light in a remote village of Doda district.
It sounds quite unbelievable but people of Guha village in Marmat area of Doda district have alleged that an 80 year old woman of the village was gang-raped and her sister-in-law was mercilessly beaten up, her clothes torn apart and was left naked in the house. Both cops, attached with a newly created post of STF at Guha, were reportedly under the influence of liquor. It may be mentioned here that Marmat is 35 kilometers hilly track from Doda City and the village where incident happened is nearly two to three hours trek from the last road connection in the area.
Early Times has been following this story since July 3, the day after rape was committed on the elderly village woman, one of whose sons is 60 years old, but the local administration and Police refused to confirm the report. Our reporters were in touch with the shocked villagers of Guha who were desperately seeking help for getting a case registered. On July 4, Deputy Inspector General of Police Doda-Ramban-Kishtwar Range Hemant Kumar Lohia, when contacted, dismissed the reports as rumours and said that media should help defeating propaganda of rumour mongers.
After three days of constant efforts by the untiring locals, the viscera of the woman has been collected for forensic test, two accused cops have been identified by her after an open identification parade of 18 cops at Guha and rape case has been finally registered. Deputy Commissioner Doda Syed Sharief-ud-Din told Early Times over phone from Doda late this evening that FIR number 161/09 under section 376 of RPC has been registered against cops Joginder Singh and Daljeet Singh and they have been arrested by the Police.
Khurshid Sharief, the Sarpanch of Doda said that two STF cops Joginder Singh and Daljeet Singh barged into the house of house of one Shams Din and pounced up her 80 year old wife Zatoona Begum. The men folk at that time were away taking cattle back home, the Sarpanch said. The beastly cops allegedly raped the woman repeatedly while she was crying for help. Her sister in law Gulzara Begum, aged around 60 years, came to her rescue and the cops tried to rape her too. As apparently she tried to resist the attempt, the villagers later found her naked as her clothes were torn up. She had injuries on her body, a villager said.
The incident occurred on the intervening night of July 2 and 3 and on July 3 the locals accompanied Shams Din (husband of the victim) to local Police Post. They told us that the Police Post incharge, identified as Nadeem, refused to entertain their complaint and instead guided cops to push the villagers out of Police station. On July 3 and 4, the villagers said, they made repeated attempts to convince the Police at Guha and also at Doda to register a case but they all dismissed their complaint as a conspiracy to get the STF post shifted from the area.
“On the evening of July 4 I approached MLA Doda Abdul Majeed Wani over telephone in Srinagar and narrated him the whole story”, said the Sarpanch. He informed that on Wani’s intervention a team of officers from Doda, including Assistant Commissioner Development, Tehsildar, Naib Tehsildar, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DAR), and Station House Officer Doda rushed for Guha and reached the village at around 1 AM last night. They started their investigation which continued till this afternoon but apparently the team made attempts to hush up case.
When contacted this morning, the MLA Doda, Abdul Majid Wani said, “I have all the reasons to believe what villagers are saying and there is very little to deny the ugly incident”. Admitting that the local authorities were trying to hush up case, Wani said, “I will follow the case till justice is done”. He further added, “I may have to personally take the culprits to hell if system does not work”.
Finally, this afternoon, the Deputy Commissioner Doda, Syed Sharief-ud-Din, accompanied by SP Prabhat Singh, reached the village for an on the spot inquiry. By that time the last night’s team of Doda administration had already packed the villagers back home. However, on hearing about DC’s visit, a group of locals along with the victim and her husband reported before the team where the victim got her statement recorded.
Some forward movement could be made on the case only when the victim deposed before the Deputy Commissioner and narrated the entire incident. The Deputy Commissioner ordered an identification parade in which 18 cops were lined up and the victim of rape was quick to identify two of them.
DC Sharief-ud-Din told Early Times that based on identification parade two cops have been arrested and a case has been registered against them. He said, “he said we had taken along a team of doctors which has collected evidence and whether rape was committed can be confirmed only on getting medical report”.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
