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.
The woman’s family has claimed that the two policemen, accompanied by third accused Dinesh Bishnoi, took her to the house of one of them, where they gang raped and killed her. They had been following the woman daily when she went for computer coaching. The woman was found in an injured state on Tuesday afternoon and taken to the hospital, where she died.
“Saving his chair”
Mr. Joshi said here that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, also holding the Home portfolio, was busy defending his position and saving his chair. “This incident should be a matter of shame for the Congress government, because the protectors of people turned into the perpetrators of the most heinous crime,” he said, while demanding adequate compensation to the victim’s family.
Former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje also condemned the incident and said the ruling Congress was misleading the public with its “hollow claims and false propaganda”. Ms. Raje said Rajasthan was leading the country in the category of crimes against women under the Congress rule.
“This incident should be a matter of shame for the Congress government, because the protectors of people turned into the perpetrators of the most heinous crime”C.P. Joshi State BJP president
