Green tape with the phrases “crime scene do not cross” has been used to fence off a coal furnace in an open field. The furnace is obscured by soot and charred charcoal, and the locals who have gathered there steal peeks at it.
14-year-old gang-raped
According to the police, it is the location in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district where a 14-year-old girl’s body was burned on August 2 after she was allegedly gang-raped and slain.
Police, forensic teams and hundreds of incensed locals have all visited the furnace where the girl’s bones and jewellery were found in the four days since the incident.
The incident has led to intense outrage both within and outside of the state. Outside of the closest police station, protesters, including BJP opponents, have been dharna-sitting. Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan, announced on social media on Saturday that seven people had already been detained in connection with the case.
Loud weeping can be heard coming from the victim’s home, which is about a kilometre distant from the furnace. Her parents are frequently in tears and inconsolable.
There is also anger in the family against the local policemen who, they allege, did not take timely action.
According to the girl’s uncle, a gramme panchayat member, “the girl may be alive now, or at least we would have got her body for the last rites,” had the police intervened as soon as they were informed by the family about her absence.
He claimed that she used to take her goats to the field where nomads had erected their furnaces every day to feed.
He stated that on the day of the occurrence, “The girl and her mother had gone to the field to feed goats. Her mother visited her parents’ residence nearby in the afternoon. When she came back, she looked for the girl but couldn’t find her. She enquired about the nomads camped out in the field, but they didn’t give a satisfactory answer. Then she went home, hoping that her daughter may have gone back.”
The family became concerned when the girl did not get home, even late in the evening, and the girl’s uncle dispatched a cousin to the neighbourhood police station to report her missing.
The family and demonstrators are now harshly criticising the police response at the time.
Police didn’t report the incident
In order to file a missing person complaint, I went to the police station on August 2 when she still hadn’t shown up by late evening. I had her ration card and Aadhaar card. However, the police did not record our report and instead requested her school records, certificates of attendance, and mark sheets, according to the relative.
He claimed that the police had requested him to check to see if she had left to visit family members and return the next morning.
According to the cousin, the girl’s mother insisted that he return to the field to look for her because she thought the nomads’ behaviour there was odd.
Also read: Bengaluru Tragedy: Hit-and-Run Claims Two Lives, One Severely Injured
“After midnight, we noticed that one of the coal furnaces—which hadn’t been working the previous morning—had a fire going. The nomads there did not speak correctly to us when we went to talk to them. I later removed some of the material from the furnace with a stick. The cousin claimed, “I could see bones.
The cousin called the uncle, shocked and terrified.
“At first, I didn’t think he was telling the truth because I couldn’t imagine how such a thing could have happened. The boy discovered the girl’s bangles when I asked him to check the boiler for anything else, the uncle claimed.
The uncle then hurried over to the area with a few others, caught the nomads, and “roughed them up.” The nomads, according to him, then informed them that the two criminals had run away.
Later, we pursued and captured one of them. Around 1 am, after we had already identified the perpetrator and uncovered the bones and jewellery, the police showed up, the uncle added.
Four women were reportedly seated close to the furnace when the girl’s body was being burned, according to the cousin.
The wives of the two suspects have also been seized, and one of the wives is a juvenile, according to Ajmer Range IG Lata Manoj Kumar.
ASI suspended
“The ASI has been suspended when it was discovered that the Assistant Sub Inspector, who was the duty officer when the information was first given to the police station, was careless. I have also ordered the Station House Officer’s suspension after observing his supervisory carelessness, the IG said.
Locals protested outside the police station and staged a dharna, joined by the BJP, Vijay Bainsla, and other leaders of the Gujjar community.
After the district government promised to file the challan (chargesheet) in the matter within 15 days, the protesters consented to end their sit-in, according to Bhilwara Collector Ashish Modi late Sunday.
The family wants “compensation of Rs 1 crore, a government job for one family member, and the death penalty for the accused,” the uncle claims.
A four-member committee of BJP MPs, appointed by party leader J P Nadda to conduct an investigation into the incident, arrived in Bhilwara on Sunday and spoke with the victim’s family. Saroj Pandey, Rekha Verma, Kanta Kardam, and Locket Chatterjee are the four MPs.
“The state government should step down right away. The government hasn’t even tried to contact or compensate the girl’s family. This is the pinnacle of being insensitive. Saroj Pandey stated that the entire government was negligent.
The defendants have been charged with gang rape and murder by the police, and they have also been placed under arrest under the POCSO Act, which protects children from sexual offences. They said that investigations had revealed four women, including the wives of the two gangrape suspects, had contributed to the victim’s body being burned in the furnace.
According to Collector Ashish Modi, the perpetrators of the act would face punishment swiftly
“The main demand (of the protesters) was that the suspect be apprehended. Most of the suspects have been apprehended. The request for an expedited probe has also been granted, and culpable officials have been held accountable. The main requirements have thus been satisfied. That will also be completed shortly, the Collector promised, taking into account the regulations and provisions governing remuneration.
Chief Minister Gehlot said on social media on Saturday that “strict punishment” would be meted out to the defendants after announcing that seven people had been detained in the case.
“Rajasthan is a state that takes swift action when any such occurrences occur, and it has established a record in terms of apprehending offenders. also in the future, the police will continue to act impartially,” Gehlot said in his post.
