The three-member committee of women police officers, constituted by the Haryana Government to investigate and receive complaints regarding alleged rape of women at Murthal near Sonepat during the Jat stir, on Saturday visited the site of the alleged incident for gathering evidence.
The women were commuting on National Highway-1 during the violent Jat agitation earlier this week when they were allegedly sexually assaulted.
Some eye witnesses also turned up following the outcry. Niranjan Singh, an elderly Sikh man, told reporters on Saturday that he saw hooligans assaulting women commuters and tearing off their clothes. “I have seen this happening with my own eyes. The hooligans attacked the women and girls and tore off their clothes. Some were chased into the fields, some were dragged,” the witness claimed.
The alleged incidents took place early Monday (February 22). Reports had it that gang rapes took place and that up to 10 women were sexually assaulted by a group of nearly 40 hooligans during the Jat community’s agitation for reservation. The reports said the women were pulled out of their cars, stripped and gang raped in nearby fields. The victims later reached a nearby popular roadside eatery and sought help. Haryana Government has consistently denied the reports though it has constituted a committee to look into the issue.
Another witness, Yadwinder, claimed he saw three women with children and some men who were trying to save themselves from the Jat protesters. “We were at some distance but I clearly saw three women with torn clothes trying to escape from the area,” Yadwinder, who was travelling in a bus and had to hide in a nearby premises, said.
The State Government’s inquiry committee, headed by a woman Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Rajshree Singh and comprising two women Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs), Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur, on Saturday started the probe into the reported incidents. The committee visited Hasanpur village near Murthal, where the alleged assault took place.
The committee has been set up to look into allegations that women commuters were pulled out of their cars during the recent Jat agitation and mass gang-rapes took place at Murthal in Haryana’s Sonepat district.
Asked about recovery of some clothes belonging to women at Murthal on the Delhi Ambala National Highway, Rajshree told reporters, “These had been sent to Forensic Science laboratory for examination”.
“let us see, what comes out,” she said during her visit to Murthal.
Asked how challenging would it be for the police to identify culprits of the alleged incident, she said police was visiting the “scene of the crime” to collect clues and talking to people in this regard. “It is challenging. But let us see, what happens,” she said, asserting, “It will be our endeavour that truth comes out.”
“We appeal to all citizens who have any clue to forward. They should meet us and tell us whatever they have seen, they should share with us all details and we will try to bring out the truth. We are visiting the scene of crime and meeting people,” she said.
Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) YP Singhal on Friday said the inquiry committee would thoroughly probe the allegations.
The reports said clothes and undergarments of women were found strewn in the area but Haryana Police claimed these could have fallen out from bags of the commuters who were stopped and chased away by the Jat protesters who set their vehicles on fire later.
Additional Chief Secretary PK Das told media on Friday the State Government was “very serious about this alleged incident and those found guilty would not be spared”. Das appealed to people to cooperate and provide information without any fear. “The identity of any informer would not be disclosed,” Das said.
DGP Singhal denied that police personnel at lower-level might be trying to keep a lid on the episode. It was alleged that police officials told the women victims not to report the matter as nothing would come out of it. Haryana Police and the State Government had on Wednesday denied any incident of “indecent behaviour” and rape of women in Sonipat during the recent agitation.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday took suo moto notice of media reports in this regard. Justice Naresh Kumar Sanghi said the High Court could
not sit as a “mute spectator” to the reported incidents and that these needed to be probed by a “premier investigation agency”.