Haryana Police filed its status report on the alleged rapes at Murthal in Sonipat district during the Jat agitation on Monday. The report says that no such incident took place in the area during the stir. The status report was filed before a division bench comprising justices SK Mittal and HS Sidhu in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The status report filed by the police “denied the charges of molestation and gangrape during the intervening night of 22-23 February at Murthal in Sonepat district.”
The division bench adjourned the case till 14 March.
The High Court had taken suo motu note of the matter after a local daily reported on the alleged rapes. The bench had appointed senior advocate Anupam Gupta as amicus curiae to assist the court in this matter. Amicus curiae is someone who is not a party to the case but offers information that bears on the case. Amicus curiae cannot be someone who has been solicited by any of the parties to assist a court.
Mohammad Akil, ADGP of Law and Order and DIG Rajshree Singh, Head of the three-member women police officers probing the allegations, were also present at the hearing.
Days after allegations of rape and molestation by Jat quota agitators near Haryana’s Murthal, one woman came forward on Sunday and registered a case of gangrape against seven persons, including her brother-in-law, in connection with the incident.
An FIR has been lodged against seven persons in connection with a gangrape on the basis of a complaint filed by a Narela-based woman.Rajshree Singh, DIG, Haryana Police
Singh however also said a “family dispute” could be the reason behind the woman filing the complaint.
The officer said the victim was not sure about the exact scene of the crime but claimed she was raped in a building near Murthal when she was on way to Narela in Delhi from Haridwar in a van.
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