A 20-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly murdered after her gang rape at Khajuwala in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district while she was on her way to attend a computer coaching class. The woman’s family accused three persons, including two police constables, of committing the crime and staged a dharna on Wednesday demanding their immediate arrest.
The two policemen, Manoj and Bhagirath, posted at Khajuwala police station, were placed under suspension after the registration of the first information report in the case. The local Bharatiya Janata Party leaders joined the dharna in Khajuwala, while party president C.P. Joshi demanded justice for the family of the deceased, at a press conference in Jaipur. A heavy police force was deployed at the protest site.
The family members have also refused to give consent for conducting a post-mortem of the victim’s body. Bikaner Superintendent of Police Tejaswani Gautam said a case under Section 376-D (gang rape) of the Indian Penal Code and the SC/ST (Prevention of Corruption) Act had been registered and attempts were being made to convince the next of kin of the deceased to facilitate the medico-legal procedure.
