advertisement
Would Nishu – the key accused in the Rewari gang rape and the man said to have orchestrated the crime on 12 September – have been able to orchestrate it, if he had been arrested as he should’ve been, a year ago?
When The Quint visited the survivor’s village on 29 September, this correspondent learnt, through conversations with multiple women in the hamlet, that the panchayat had quashed a case against Nishu when a woman had alleged sexual harassment last year.
After inquiries at various homes in the village, The Quint tracked down the woman, who lives in a small cluster of settlements in the dusty outskirts of the village, with her family.
According to the woman, who has three daughters and one son, she had been out in the fields, picking cotton, with five other women, in September of last year. These women had gone a little way ahead, and the woman (we’ll call her M*) had ventured to a corner of the fields where "the grass was greener".
M* claims that she and her companions attempted to follow Nishu with scythes in their hands, but that he had disappeared into the fields.
When asked if Nishu was ever found, she alleges that he wasn’t and that he appeared to have fled. She claims that the men in her household went to Nishu’s house in the village (who lives some distance from her) and demanded to know where he was. “People at Nishu’s home, however, said that he wasn’t inside, and that he had gone to his mama’s (maternal uncle’s) house.”
M* alleges that she had then gone to Nahar Police Station, which is closest to the village, to file an FIR.
M* claims that she narrated her ordeal to the panchayat, but that “aadmi logo ne aapas mein hi faisla kar liya tha” (“the menfolk reached a decision amongst themselves”).
When The Quint asked her if she would be willing to file a fresh complaint against the accused, she said that she would be, adding, “Hum zaroor shikayat karenge, humari bhi izzat hai. Jo aise gande kaam karenge, unki shikayat toh hogi hi” (“I will certainly complain, my self-respect is important to me. People who commit such horrendous atrocities must be stood up against.”)
This correspondent also asked her if she had heard about the gang rape of a 19-year-old woman in her village – allegedly by the same man she claims molested her – and M* asserts that she has.
The Quint checked with the alleged survivor to ensure that she wanted the matter escalated, and with her emphatic consent, subsequently informed Nazneen Bhasin, Nuh Superintendent of Police (SP) and Head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that has been constituted to bring the perpetrators in the Rewari gang rape to book.
The SIT has, since commencing investigations into the gang rape case, arrested 8 persons (including three key accused who were said to have participated in the gang rape – Nishu, Pankaj and Manish).
Sources in the SIT had previously told The Quint that they had heard rumours of Nishu having harassed other women in the survivor's village, but that “no victim has been willing to come forward”.
Upon receiving The Quint’s information, Bhasin said,
This correspondent has since been contacted by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Anil Kumar of Nahar Police Station, Haryana, and the latter has confirmed that a team will visit the woman as soon as possible to identify the veracity of her claims and to carry out an investigation.
This story will be updated as further developments emerge.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Published: undefined