The Tribune, January 5 and 7, 2005

Naib tehsildar in police remand for abduction
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, January 4
A naib tehsildar of the Haryana government, posted in the Palwal sub-division of the district, who had been booked for abducting a minor girl, was remanded in the police custody for ten days by a court at Palwal. The accused was arrested by the police yesterday after the father of the girl, who is a driver of the SDM posted at Ballabhgarh. The victim’s father lodged a complaint with the police that the accused, identified as Bansi Lal, had abducted his 15-year-old daughter recently, when she had gone to attend an extra class at the school. The girl, who is yet to be recovered, is a student of eighth standard of Government Girls Senior Secondary School at Palwal and a resident of Teherik village.

According to the DSP of Palwal, Mr Om Prakash, sleuths have been sent to several places to recover the girl. The residents of the village of the victim had met the SDM Palwal yesterday to seek an immediate action to arrest the accused and safe recovery of the girl. A classmate of the victim had also narrated the incident, which led to the alleged abduction of the girl on January 1. It is reported that the victim was taken in a car on some pretext by the accused. A case under Section 363 and 366 of the IPC has been registered against the accused. The tehsildar was produced in the court and was remanded ten-day police custody.

Rescued girl alleges rape
Police ‘shielding’ the accused
Bijendra Ahlawat
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, January 6
The case of the alleged abduction of a minor girl by a naib tehsildar of the state government posted at Palwal town in the district, seems to have taken a new twist, with the recovery of the girl and her revelation that she had been raped and the reported efforts of the police to ‘shield’ the accused.

A large number of lawyers of Palwal town staged a demonstration and blocked the National Highway today to protest against the manner in which the police was handling into the case. They have demanded a high level probe and removal of the DSP from the town. While the lawyers have announced not to appear for the accused in the case, it is now believed that the place of the recovery of the girl, shown by the police, was incorrect and there is something fishy as it seems that they are trying to shield the accused.

It is reported that the girl in her statement claimed that she was raped by two persons, including the main accused, the naib tehsildar, and one of his friends, after she was abducted by them on January 1 last. The second accused, who is reportedly to be a commission agent in Kaithal district, has also been arrested. The rape charge of the victim has been proved by the medical examination and the police have added Section 376 of the IPC against the accused, who had been booked under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC earlier.

Interestingly, the police officials have been charged by the local lawyers with trying to shield the accused in the matter. The lawyers have alleged that the victim was thrashed by a senior police official posted at Palwal, when he was speaking to her after recovery. The lawyers, who blocked the National Highway today in protest against the police attitude, alleged that the victim was being forced to change her statement, with a view to save the official. They demanded shifting of the case to an independent agency and taking away the case from the present police officials. The victim, aged about 15 years, is a student of Government Girls Secondary School, Palwal, and daughter of the driver of the SDM posted at Ballabhgarh. She was reported missing after she had gone for attending the extra classes in her school on January 1. The Congress leaders, including the District president of the Mahila Congress, Ms Sharda Rathaur, has demanded a high level probe into the incident. She said the matter will also be taken up with the National Women Commission.

Meanwhile, two separate incidents of rape have been reported in the last 48 hours. While a woman, wife of a labourer, was raped on knifepoint near the jhuggis of Sector – 11 here on Tuesday night, a married woman was raped by a person in Neemka village of Ballabhgarh sub-division on Monday. She was reportedly threatened with dire consequences by the accused after the crime. No arrest has been made so far.