Jehanabad disrobing case: Sudha Varghese to hold protest in Jehanabad
2 min readPATNA: Padma Shri Sudha Varghese, who works for upliftment of dalit community, on Wednesday said she along with others would organise a protest march in Jehanabad demanding reinvestigation in case of disrobing of a minor dalit girl by 13 youths in Jehanabad whose video had surfaced on April 29.
Varghese, in her statement on Wednesday said reinvestigation should be done under a female IG rank police officer.
Immediately, after the video surfaced, a special investigation team (SIT) was formed by Patna zonal IG Nayyar Hasnain Khan which nabbed four accused within 24 hours.
Between May 1 and May 4, rest nine accused visible in video were also arrested. The incident took place on outskirts of village Bharathua under Kako police station in the district on April 25. Of the 13 accused, eight were minors.
“We met the survivor and her family after much efforts on May 6. We asked her about the incident in which it surfaced that she was gang raped. She was in captivity of youths for at least four hours,” Varghese siad.
“We met DGP KS Dwivedi next day who assured about taking necessary action. In front of us only, he directed Jehanabad SP Maneesh over phone to remove policewomen from inside survivor’s house which was yet not obeyed,” she said. Varghese claimed the victim’s family complained to her that policewomen were sleeping on bed while victim and others were sleeping on floor.
However, IG Khan refuted Varghese’s claims of gang rape. He said the girl was examined by a medical board which did not confirm rape. “In addition, the victim recorded her statement before magistrate where also she denied rape,” Khan said.
Khan further said Ratni block child development and protection officer (CDPO) Sumitra Padma and district women’s helpline representative Jyotsna Kumari were roped in to assist police in investigation by knowing elaborately about incident after gaining victim’s confidence.
“The survivor denied of rape before the duo. In addition, she also narrated entire incident before investigating officer (IO) sub-inspector (SI) Kunti Kumari, but there also she had denied rape,” he said adding the case was being investigated with utmost sensitivity.
Courtesy: TNN
