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(Trigger warning: Description of rape, reader discretion is advised)
Even as protests over the Kolkata rape and murder intensify across the country, Uttarakhand has been shaken by two ghastly crimes against women. While in one case a nurse was raped and killed near the Uttarakhand-Uttar Pradesh border, in the second case a minor was raped in a bus near Dehradun Inter-State Bus Terminal, allegedly by Uttarakhand Roadways' employees.
What exactly happened in these incidents?
'Smashed Her Head After Raping Her'
The 33-year-old victim lived in Dibdiba village near Bilaspur in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur district and worked as a nurse at a private hospital in Uttarakhand's Rudrapur city, less than 10 kilometers away.
On 31 July her sister, Naseema* (name changed), filed a complaint in Rudrapur that her sister has been missing.
Nine days later, her body was recovered from the bushes in a vacant plot near Dibdiba, on 8 August. Her face had been mutilated beyond recognition.
According to the police, she was abducted on her way back from work. She was raped, strangled and her head was crushed with a rock. The killer also looted Rs 3000 from her purse, her mobile phone and other valuables.
"The victim was traced with the help of CCTV footage and by tracking the location of her mobile phone," SSP Udham Singh Nagar, TC Manjunath, told the media.
Based on mobile surveillance, the police zeroed in on one Khushboo, a resident of Tursa Patti in UP's Bareilly district. When the police team went to her residence, it was found that her husband, Dharmendra Kumar, was absconding.
The Uttarakhand police sent teams to Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in search of Dharmendra.
Dharmendra was finally arrested from the industrial area in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
According to SSP Manjunath, "The accused revealed that he followed the nurse when she was returning home from work in the dark with the intention to loot her. When she reached a deserted area he forcibly took her to the bushes. He strangled her with a scarf when she tried to raise an alarm. The accused then raped her and crushed her face with a rock".
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'Roadways Staffers Rape Minor at Dehradun ISBT'
On Sunday, 18 August, five people were arrested in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a teenage girl in a Uttarakhand roadways bus at Dehradun Inter State Bus Terminal. The arrested individuals allegedly work with Uttarakhand Roadways.
The incident took place in 12 August, when the survivor is said to have come on a bus from Delhi and was seeking to go to Punjab.
According to the police, Devendra, the conductor of the bus, said in his confession that he had noticed the girl at Kashmiri Gate ISBT in Delhi asking people for help finding a bus that would take her to Punjab.
After the bus terminated at Dehradun, all the passengers got out. It is here that the conductor Devendra, the driver Dharmendra Kumar, raped her, the police claims based the former's confession.
They were then allegedly joined by two other drivers - Ravi Kumar and Rajpal - who also then raped the girl.
But the girl's ordeal didn't end here.
The police claims that Devendra said in his confession that he went to deposit the money at the cash counter and told the cashier - Rajesh Kumar Sonkar - about the girl. According to the police, Sonkar too came to the bus and raped the girl.
The survivor was found sitting alone on a bench at the Dehradun ISBT late night on 12 August. The Dehradun Child Welfare Committee were informed about the girl who then took her to a Bal Niketan.
However, the survivor was reportedly in shock and didn't tell anyone about what had happened to her.
It was only during a counselling session a few days later that she opened about the alleged gang-rape.
Soon after, the Child Welfare Committee informed the police and a case was filed under Section 70 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Based on the survivor's statement and CCTV footage, the police identified the five men allegedly involved in the crime.
The police says that during her initial statement, the girl had said that she was an orphan and hailed from Punjab. However, later she said that she was from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh and had fled from home.
The accused have been identified as Dharmendra Kumar, 32, and Rajpal, 57 and Devendra, 52, all from Haridwar, Rajesh Kumar Sonkar, 38, from Dehradun and Ravi Kumar, 34, from Nawabganj in Uttar Pradesh.
(With inputs from Piyush Rai and PTI)
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