Japanese tourist, schoolgirl raped; eight held for Haryana rape-murder

Posted on 10th Feb 2015 by mohit kumar

Jaipur/Kolkata/Chandigarh, Feb 9 (IANS) A Japanese tourist visiting Rajasthan and a teenaged schoolgirl in West Bengal said they were raped, while eight men have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the gang rape and brutal murder of a mentally challenged Nepali woman in Haryana, police in the three states said Monday.

A 20-year-old Japanese woman, who was visiting Jaipur, filed a complaint in Dudu police station, 60 km from the Rajasthan capital, accusing a man of raping her.

"The incident occurred Sunday night. The woman was visiting tourist places in Jaipur when a person on a motorbike approached her and, posing as a tourist guide, offered to show her around. The man took her to several tourist spots in the city and later to a secluded place where, according to her, he raped her," Inspector General of Police (Jaipur range) D.C. Jain told IANS Monday.

"We have registered a case of rape against the unidentified person and started investigation," Jain said.

In West Bengal, a 15-year-old schoolgirl was allegedly raped twice by a neighbour in Cooch Behar district, police said Monday.

The girl was allegedly raped Jan 27 and 29, but the incident came to light Monday after her family filed a police complaint.

The Class 7 student, was allegedly taken to Alipurduar by a neighbour on the pretext that her father was admitted to a hospital there, and raped.

"We have registered a complaint and a medical examination has been conducted to ascertain rape. No arrest has been made so far," said a police officer.

Police allegedly refused to register the complaint but later relented after the state women's commission intervened.

"The girl's family alleged that police had refused to register a complaint but now a first information report (FIR) has been registered and police have been ordered to take immediate action," the commission's chairperson Sunanda Mukherjee said.

The incident comes days after another minor girl was allegedly gang-raped twice in South 24 Parganas district.

In Haryana, police Monday claimed said eight people have been arrested over the barbaric gang rape and murder of the 28-year-old mentally-challenged woman from Nepal near Rohtak town, 75 km from Delhi.

Director General of Police Y.P. Singhal, who visited the spot Monday where the body of the woman was found, said eight arrests have been made so far and investigation was in progress. The ninth accused, a Nepali man, was absconding, the DGP said.

"The SIT is investigating the case. It will be cracked soon," Singhal told the media near Rohtak.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar told the media in Surajkund near Delhi that out of the eight people arrested, seven were from Gaddi Kheri village in Rohtak district and one was from Nepal.

"There are indications that this gruesome incident was committed with the connivance of the Nepali person," Khattar said.

Defending Haryana Police's inaction in the matter, Khattar said: "It was a blind case. Hence, it took nine days to arrest the accused. Police acted promptly in the incident."

DGP Singhal told the media that all the arrested confessed to their crime.

The woman's mutilated body was found in an agricultural field near Bahu Akbarpur village on the Rohtak-Hisar highway, about 20 km from Rohtak, by villagers Feb 4.

The post-mortem report said objects had been thrust into her private parts. Doctors said the woman was gang-raped and tortured, before being brutally killed.

The woman's skull had a fracture and her body parts had been eaten, probably by animals.

The woman had gone missing Feb 1 and her relatives had filed a complaint with police in Rohtak. However, police did not register a case nor did they launch a prompt investigation to trace her, the family alleged.

"The woman was not kidnapped but had left home on her own. The accused murdered her to destroy all evidence," Singhal said.

The woman had come to Rohtak from Nepal a couple of months back for treatment at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) in Rohtak.

Protests erupted in Rohtak town Sunday after details emerged of the barbaric manner in which the woman was raped and murdered. The protesters condemned police and the state government for failing to show any action being taken.

Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala criticised the Khattar government and Haryana Police for not taking action in the matter. He said the law and order situation in Haryana was deteriorating daily.