Punjab and Haryana high court seeks probe status after accused’s bail plea

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has asked the Haryana police to produce the status report regarding its investigation into the alleged sexual exploitation of an activist (now deceased) at Tikri border in Bahadurgarh during her stay to participate in the ongoing farmers’ agitation.
The HC sought the report after hearing a plea filed by one of the accused, Ankur Sangwan seeking anticipatory bail in the case.Claiming innocence in the entire episode, Ankur, who is a native of Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, has submitted that he is being unnecessarily harassed and humiliated by the police despite the fact that his name has not been mentioned at any stage by the victim or her father in the complaint.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the victim was suffering from Covid-19 and no postmortem was conducted after her death. The only evidence collected so far is the hearse evidence of the deceased's father.
“She had informed her father telephonically as well as when her father met her in hospital. She had not mentioned Ankur’s name anywhere in the complaint or the FIR. He is innocent and has not committed any offence. No useful purpose would be served by sending the petitioner behind bars as there is nothing to be recovered from him,” Ankur’s counsel argued .
Tikri rape victim had met group during Bengal tour
The matter has now been listed for June 16 for hearing.
The FIR in this case, which includes the charges of gang rape, was registered on May 9 at Bahadurgarh’s city police station in Jhajjar district of Haryana. The complaint in this regard was given by the deceased activist’s father. The Bahadurgarh Police booked Anil Malik, Anup Singh, Ankur Sangwan, Jagdish Brar, along with two women activists, Kavita and Yogita, who had pitched tents at Tikri border under the banner of Kisan Social Army, for gang rape and abduction.
In his plea for anticipatory bail, the petitioner said that on April 1, a delegation of six persons including the petitioner claiming to be the members of Kisan Social Army had reached West Bengal as a part of the campaign by Sanyukta Kisan Morcha. The victim had met the group during the tour and joined the group on April 11 to travel to Delhi.
Reiterating the contents of the FIR in his plea, the petitioner mentioned that one of the other members of the group, Anil Malik, who was also the leader of the group, had tried to kiss the activist forcibly in the train when they were on their way to Delhi. On April 12, they reached Delhi and then reached the Tikri border protest site. The victim stayed in the tent of the Kisan Social Army.
On April 14, the victim narrated the train incident to her father. As per the FIR, the victim told her father that Anil and Anoop are not decent persons and that they were pressurising and blackmailing her. On April 16 and 17, the victim informed her father over the phone that she had passed blood with urine. After a few days, the victim again called her father and said that she was feeling relaxed because she had menstrual discharge.
On April 21, the victim developed a mild fever followed by vomiting and loose motions. She took some medicine from a medical camp at Tikri but her condition did not improve much. On April 24, she developed a cough and difficulty in breathing.
Finally, she was admitted to Shivam hospital at Bahadurgarh where she was diagnosed with Covid-19 but her condition remained unstable.
On April 29, her father reached the hospital and she narrated the entire train incident and about the incident that she was sexually exploited in a tent by Anil Malik and Anoop helped him. She was under the watch of Anil Malik and Anoop Chanaut. She died of Covid-19 on April 30.
Reiterating what’s said in the FIR, petitioner Ankur submitted that the victim had narrated the entire incident to her father from train to the tent but she had nowhere mentioned his name.