The former superintendent of Nari Niketan, Meenakshi Pokhriyal and teacher Anita Maindola were arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) working on the case of a hearing and speech impaired inmate of Nari Niketan being allegedly raped and made to undergo abortion.
With the arrest of these two women on Sunday, the number of persons arrested in this case so far has increased to eight, said city SP Ajay Singh.
Both the accused were arrested under sections 376 (2) (d), 201/313/120b/34 of IPC. The duo was produced in the court from where the two women were sent on 14-day judicial remand in Suddhowala jail on Sunday evening..
The incident of alleged rape and abortion of a hearing and speech impaired inmate of Nari Niketan elicited considerable public outrage. Though senior Congress leaders had issued a clean chit to the case after it was exposed by the media, the opposition party leaders pressurised the State Government to conduct an independent inquiry of the case.
The SIT formed for this case has so far arrested eight persons involved in this case. The arrested are all ex-employees or employees of the shelter home located in Kedarpuiram area which falls under the purview of Nehru Colony police station in Dehradun. These include former Nari Niketan superintendent Meenakshi Pokhriyal, Nari Niketan nurse Kiran Nautiyal, Nari Niketan teachers - Chandrakala Kshetri, Samanigar, Anita Maindola, class IV employee Krishna Kanchha, watchman Mohammad Hasim and Home Guard lalit Singh Bisht.
The district court had earlier granted permission to SIT to match the DNA sample of the victim with the three-month old dead foetus recovered in course of investigation. The investigation report revealed that DNA sample of the victim matched with that of the recovered foetus. The court had also granted permission to match the DNA sample of the foetus with the suspects. The team had collected blood sample of two suspects and sent it to Forensic Science laboratory (FSl), Dehradun for testing.
SP City said, “In course of investigation, the SIT ascertained involvement of six persons who had facilitated abortion of the victim at a hospital. The accused were arrested under sections 376 (2) (d), 201/313/120b/34 of IPC.”
Swinging into action following the matter going viral on the media and social networking sites, police had first arrested two accused- Mohammad Hasim and lalit Singh Bisht on November 30 night and sent them to Suddhowala jail on December 1 after which the subsequent arrests were made on the basis of findings.
Notably the probe was started after Nehru Colony police station sub -inspector Krishna Jayara registered a report in the same police station on November 27 and a case under sections 376/218/201/120b of IPC was registered against unidentified Nari Niketan officers.