Out of hospital, gang rape survivor stays away from her home in fear

Gurgaon: A 19-year-old woman, who has accused four men of confining her to a room, sedating her and raping her over a period of nine days, was discharged from Civil Hospital on Thursday but did not return to her village in Sohna for fear of reprisal because of the police case she has filed. Instead, she and her husband went to her relative’s place.
The woman was supposed to join the probe and record her statement before the investigating officer, but she skipped the meeting and went to the police commissioner along with a few people and met the DCP (south).
Earlier this week, the owner of a local school who had helped her file the complaint was thrashed, stripped and paraded by a mob that, he alleged, was mobilised by the accused who had turned it into a caste conflict. The woman is a Dalit and the accused are from the dominant caste of the village. So far, two FIRs have been filed — one for gang rape and another for the attack on the school owner — but no arrests have been made.
According to sources, the allegations in the first FIR and their preliminary findings are different. The person with whom the woman left the village on June 30 is not the one mentioned in the FIR, said sources. The FIR had said that she was called for a meeting by Chintu and went for a drive with him and two of his friends when she was offered sedative-laced water and fell unconscious. After a few hours, she found herself locked in a room where, she alleged, she was sexually assaulted by four persons over several days and later dumped at a bus stand in Ballabhgarh.
Sources also said that the four accused had not assembled in one place during the period mentioned in the FIR, i.e., June 30 to July 7. They added that CCTV footage and mobile phone locations of the accused and the woman do not corroborate her allegations in the police complaint.
The second FIR pertaining to the attack on the school owner was also under scrutiny, said the sources. “The allegation is exaggerated. If someone is assaulted by 40 people, as claimed in the complaint, then that person is bound to receive grievous injuries,” said a police officer. He added that in a situation where a person is thrashed by a group of 40, it is highly unlikely that he or she can see everyone’s face, but in this case, the victim had named every single person. When contacted, DCP (south) Dheeraj Sethia refused to share details of the ongoing investigation. “We registered the case soon after receiving a complaint and investigation is underway to verify the facts. Appropriate action will be taken on the basis of the investigation,” he said.