Rewari gang rape: Woman cop suspended for delay in acting

MAHENDRAGARH

: A woman sub-inspector posted at women’s police station in Rewari has been suspended for delay in action in the gang rape of a 19-year-old woman, wasting crucial time that allowed the prime suspects to escape after committing the crime last Wednesday.


IG (Rewari) Shrikant Jadhav told TOI that the suspension of LSI Hiramani was recommended by former Rewari SP Rajesh Duggal, before he was shunted out on Sunday.

Two of the three prime suspects are still at large with police carrying out raids across Haryana and Rajasthan. On Monday, the SIT produced three arrested men — Nishu, one of the three named in the police FIR, medical practitioner Sanjeev Kumar and another villager Deendayal — in a Mahendragarh court that remanded them in police custody for five days.

While Nishu, who was with Army jawan Pankaj and Manish (the other two prime accused in the case), has been booked under sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 365 (kidnapping) and 376 D (gang rape), Sanjeev and Deendayal have been charged for criminal conspiracy and concealment of crime. “We have produced the three men in court and taken them on remand for further interrogation,” said

Mewat

’s SP Nazneen Bhasin, who is heading the SIT.

Arguing before sub-divisional judicial magistrate Piyush Sharma, the police said they needed to interrogate the arrested men further to find out details of others involved in the crime. The police further said that raids were being carried out across Haryana and Rajasthan to nab Pankaj and Manish, and that the three men could provide inputs on their hideouts.

No lawyer agreed to represent Nishu, prompting the court to appoint a legal aid counsel, Meenakshi Kumari, to present his case.

On the other hand, advocate Sandeep Yadav, representing Sanjeev, opposed the police remand for the medical practitioner.

Yadav

argued that Sanjeev was not named in the FIR and was not involved in the crime and the conspiracy. Terming Sanjeev a victim of media trial, the lawyer said the doctor had visited the crime scene only after he was called by the accused when the condition of the woman had deteriorated.

Similarly, advocate Rakesh Lamba said Deendayal, the owner of the room at the edge of a farm at Naya Gaon in Rewari where the woman was gang-raped, was not present on the spot at the time of the crime. Lamba told court he had gone to a bank in Kosli and to a two-wheeler showroom for personal reasons. There is CCTV footage to corroborate the facts. “My client has been falsely implicated in the case. The police claim that he knew ‘how the place would be used’ is aimed at covering up their failure to arrest the main accused in the case,” said Lamba.

In the day, Rewari DC Ashok Sharma met the survivor in Rewari Civil Hospital. The family told Sharma that visitors were coming straight into the patient’s room, which was affecting her recovery. At this, Sharma directed hospital staff to set up a waiting space outside her room, where visitors could meet the family, but not to allow anyone to visit the survivor.