A priest and two of his disciples were booked for the alleged gang rape and murder of a 50-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district. An FIR has been filed under sections 376 D (gang rape) and 302 (murder) against the three accused, two days after the incident on Tuesday, 5 January.
The two disciples were arrested, and the priest is absconding. The police have offered an amount of Rs 25,000 as reward for the capture of the accused priest.
“We have arrested two of three accused based on the complaint of victim’s husband. The main accused is on the run. Inspector in-charge has been suspended for not taking timely action. As per government order, Special Task Force will join the case.”Prashant Kumar, ADG Law & Order
The incident reportedly took place inside a temple that the woman, an anganwadi worker, had been visiting for several years.
The district magistrate said, in a press conference, that the police has applied for compensation for the woman's family under various government schemes and it will be given to them.
SHO Suspended, Disciplinary Action to Be Taken
“We received information on Tuesday after a family alleged that a woman had been gang-raped by three men, which later led to her death. The post mortem report confirmed bleeding in private parts and death due to anti-mortem injuries. Two people have been arrested while the main accused will be held soon,” Raghvendra Singh, SHO, told the newspaper.
However, later in the day, Badaun police chief Sankalp Sharma placed Singh under suspension for negligence and said that disciplinary action will be taken against the local police for filing the FIR days after the incident.
The case is set to be sent to a fast-track court and the District Magistrate has also informed that this incident will be presented before the NSA for a probe.
What Autopsy Reports Say
The three men dropped the victim home after the incident, her family alleged. They also said that they rushed her to a hospital after she was found to be bleeding, however, she succumbed to the injuries and died during the treatment.
Autopsy reports revealed injuries to the woman's private parts.
"The post mortem report shows minor injuries to private parts, there are tears and she has a fracture on one of her legs. There was excessive bleeding and the bleeding led to shock and that led to the patient's death. Prima facie we found evidence of rape," Dr Yashpal Singh, Chief Medical Officer told NDTV.
‘Reminder of How Women In Country Are Looked’
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken cognisance of the incident and has directed officials to take strict action against the accused in the case, the Chief Minister’s Office has said.
Many politicians also took to social media to condemn the incident and sought action by the UP government.
Crimes against women have risen by 7.3 percent in the last one year alone. The 2019 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data shows that India reports 87 cases of rape every single day.
(With inputs from The Times of India, The Indian Express.)
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