There has been significant increase in crimes against women in Haridwar district in the last two months. Eight cases of rape and 22 cases of women's abduction were reported between January 1 and February 23, 2014. Taking cognisance of this, Uttarakhand Director General of Police BS Sidhu has directed the Haridwar SSP to take measures for ensuring women's security in the district.
Critics said that while the Haridwar police are yet to solve the rape-cum-murder case of a 12-year-old girl in a sugarcane field, near Bhatta Colony under Pathri Police Station on January 7, another case of rape-cum-murder of a five-year-old girl was reported in Gangnahar police station on Sunday. Though police arrested the accused in the Gangnahar case, violence against women has been increasing in the district in the last two months. Rising cases of violence against women have exposed police claim of providing security to the women of the district.
As per data from the Haridwar police, two rape cases were reported in Haridwar district in the last three days. A five-year-old girl was raped and later murdered by her neighbor on Sunday night. The accused Mohit took the girl with him on some pretext while she was standing outside her grandmother's house. In another incident, a man named Ishtekar Abbas was arrested on Sunday night for allegedly raping a minor girl in captivity for four days at several places in Haridwar. The police said the accused Abbas and the girl knew each other, and by promising to marry her, he took her to his friend's house in Haridwar after which he raped her multiple times in the next three days. On Sunday, he took her to the Jatwara bridge over the Ganga canal, pushed her into it and walked away. The police said that the drowning girl was rescued by a group of boys, who were playing in a nearby field.
DGP Sidhu expressed disappointment at increasing cases of violence against women in Haridwar district. He said that taking cognisance of this, Sadanand Shankar Rao was recently appointed the new SSP of Haridwar and directed to take measures for ensuring women's security apart from intensifying patrolling at various places in the district.