Raped twice in a period of three years by the same accused: A Dalit student's horror

They brutally raped her in 2013.  And they repeated their crime again this week. Three years back, a 21-year-old Dalit student was gangraped by five men, two of whom were arrested.  But the accused were let out on bail, and seeking revenge and to pressurize her into withdrawing her case, they tracked the survivour down and raped her again.

The 21-year-old girl is studying from Rohtak's MD University and is a daughter of a poor charpoy-maker. When she was assaulted for the first time in 2013, the family used to live in Bhiwani. Constant threats by the accused then forced them to shift to Rohtak.

On Wednesday, the men abducted her from near her college, drugged her and took her to a nearby deserted area. She was left to die unconscious in some roadside bushes with torn clothes. When some passers-by noticed her, they took her to a hospital.

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The survivour registered complaint against the five men — Anil alias Bittu, Raju alias Jagmohan, Sandeep Singh, Mausam Kumar and Aakash again. The accused are all in their late 20s and are former students of the same college where she studies. As per reports, they wanted to settle the matter out of court, and were willing to pay about 75,000 rupees. But the victim's family members repeatedly rejected the offer.

As per the survivour’s brother, the last time, two of the five accused were arrested, but they got out on bail. "We had filed a case in court for the arrest of the remaining three and  re-arrest of the two on bail. We were getting constant threats from the accused for an out-of-court settlement, but we remained firm," he said, reported by TOI.

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Following the vicious crime, several Dalit organisations protested march on Sunday in front of the residence of Rohtak MLA Manish Grover.

"This is very unfortunate. The accused were known to all. But police could not arrest them. The survivor did not get security," said R K Ranga, Haryana president of All India Scheduled Class Employees Federation.

The police though haven't made a move to arrest the accused. DSP Pushpa Khatari, said, "Police are conducting raids to nab the accused. We are waiting for a forensic report before proceeding further."

One can introduce measures like panic buttons on phones and cctv cameras in public places. But what can one do about the mentality of men who continue to unapologetically commit such heinous crimes?

Feature Image Credit: Picture Credit: apblive

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