Jail superintendent, two juniors booked for ‘gang rape’ at Sitarganj in Uttarakhand

A case was registered against the superintendent of Sitarganj jail in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district and two others for allegedly gang-raping a 30-year-old woman, police said.

The alleged incident happened in November 2016, but came to light on Thursday after the victim produced court orders that directed the Sitarganj police to register a case against the three accused. The woman claimed that she had approached the court after the police hesitated to register a case.

In 2003, the accused jail superintendent, TD Joshi, was a deputy jailor at Haldwani jail, where the woman was lodged with his brother in a dowry death case. Joshi first raped her then by calling her to his office, the woman’s complaint said.

After some time, she was released on bail and came to her house in Sitarganj. Meanwhile, Joshi was posted as the superintendent of Sampurnanand jail in Sitarganj.

After knowing that she lived near the jail premises, the complaint said, Joshi called her to his office in 2016 on the pretext of some work and molested her. One day in November 2016, he with jailor Jayant Pangti and jail staffer Ramesh Singh barged into her house and gang-raped her, the woman claimed in her complaint.

The woman claimed the three accused gang-raped her many times till May this year and threatened her of dire consequences if she dared to inform anyone about the incident.

But she went to the Sitarganj police station to lodge a complaint against the three. The police refused to register a case, the woman claimed. She then approached the local court, which directed the police to register a case against the three, the complaint said.

The police refuted the allegations. “There is no question of not registering a case as police can never do that in a gang rape incident. There are some doubts in her allegations. She claims that she was first gang-raped in 2016, then why didn’t she approach the police then?” asked Sanjay Kumar, the station house officer, Sitarganj.

“In the initial investigations it was found that she had encroached upon a piece of land belonging to Sampurnanand jail. Joshi had asked her to vacate the land,” Kumar added.

“On Joshi’s complaint, the local administration removed the encroachment a week ago. It seems that she lodged the complaint out of revenge. Investigations will reveal the truth.”

Inspector general, jail, PVK Prasad said, “The jail department is waiting for a detailed investigation report from the police. After getting the report, any action would be taken against the three accused who are staff of the jail department.”

First Published: Aug 10, 2018 21:49 IST