6 cops booked for alleged gang rape in Rajasthan

Six policemen have been booked for allegedly gang raping and beating a 35-year-old woman in custody at Sardarpurshahar police station in Rajasthan’s Churu district. The woman’s brother-in-law was earlier allegedly killed in custody at the station on July 6 after he was picked up in a robbery case.

Churu’s additional police superintendent, Prakash Sharma, said the six include suspended inspector Ranveer Singh. He added they have been booked under Indian Penal Code’s sections 376 (rape), 376 (2) (gang rape), 143 (unlawful assembly) and under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. “The investigation of this case has been transferred to the crime branch…”

A police officer, who is familiar with the case and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the woman named only the six when her statement was recorded. She had earlier in her letter to chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday accused nine policemen, including Ranveer Singh, of gang raping and beating her. “During investigation, if role of other policemen will surface, then action would be taken against them too,” said the police officer.

Rajasthan police chief Bhupendra Singh had on Saturday directed registration of a FIR against the policemen, who were earlier suspended last week.

The woman, who is admitted to a Jaipur hospital, alleged Ranveer Singh and other policemen illegally detained her along with her brother-in-law.

The police had earlier claimed that the woman’s 22-year-old brother-in-law was arrested in a theft case on July 6 and admitted to a hospital where he died later in the day.

His family contested the version and said he was picked on June 30 and kept in illegal detention. “The policemen then came to my home with my brother on July 3 but took him back along with my wife on the same day. On the way to the police station, my brother told my wife that he was being beaten and tortured. They kept both in illegal detention and beat them. My brother was murdered by the police on July 6,” said the woman’s husband.

He said his wife is a witness to the murder of his brother in police custody. He alleged that the accused policemen forced his family to conduct the last rites of his brother on July 7.

First Published: Jul 15, 2019 01:01 IST