The national outrage over the horrifying gangrape of a mother and her teenaged daughter — who were dragged out of their car by the nomadic criminals in election-bound Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr on Friday night — has prompted Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to suspend several top police officials and order an unprecedented manhunt.
While three persons — Naresh (25), Bablu (22) and Rais (28) — were arrested from the Bulandshahr bus stand on Sunday, police detained 20 suspects till Sunday evening for questioning.
Battling Opposition charges of jungle raj and collapse of the law and order machinery in the State, the Chief Minister tried to send a strong message across the board by placing under suspension Bulandshahr SSP Vaibhav Krishna, SP (City) Ram Mohan Singh, CO Himanshu Gaurav, Inspector Ramesen Singh, Patrolling Officer Rustam Singh and Constable Anurag Singh.
The Station House Officer of the Kotwali Dehat has already been suspended. Akhilesh Yadav is likely to meet the family of the victims too.
Akhilesh’s reaction over the heinous crime created a flutter in the police department and DGP Javeed Ahmad sent special teams to ensure the arrest of the criminals.
Principal Secretary (Home) Devashish Panda and ADG (law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary have also rushed to Bulandshahr to oversee the probe.
Before his suspension, SSP Vaibhav Krishna said, “We have identified the main culprit through pictures. He belongs to a nomadic tribe. STF teams have been
deputed and locations of the accused have been traced. Police teams are conducting massive raids to nab the miscreants.”
The family that was travelling from Noida to Shahjahanpur was waylaid by robbers late on
Friday night on NH 91 near Dostpur Village. The 36-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter were pulled out of the car and gangraped in a nearby field for nearly three hours.
Explaining the modus operandi of the robbers, police officer Daljit Singh said robbers flung an iron rod at the car in which the family was travelling. “When the driver stopped the car to check for damage, the criminals surrounded the car and attacked the family. They forced the family to drive the car into the nearby fields, dragged them out of it and tied up the male members. They gangraped the woman and the young girl for the next three hours and later took their cash, jewellery, mobile phones and fled.”
The terrified family spent the night hiding in the fields as their car was stuck in the mud. In the morning one of the men reached the nearest police station and reported the matter.
Reacting to the heinous incident, BSP chief Mayawati said, “The SP Government and the party chief owe an explanation to the people. Can they restore the lost honour of women and girls in such traumatic and horrendous crimesIJ”
She alleged that there was ‘jungle raj’ in UP and criminal elements were ruling the roost. She said that such incidents of heinous crimes bear testimony to the rapid deterioration in law and order in the State.
Demanding strict action against the culprits, Mayawati said that action should be taken against policemen for laxity as well. She alleged that laxity has become all-pervasive in UP Police due to rampant casteism promoted by the SP Government.
Hitting out at the Akhilesh Yadav Government, Union Minister Mahesh Sharma said, “When will this endIJ It shows that the SP Government has collapsed on every front. They cannot save the honour of a mother, a daughter. It is shameful and they should step down.”
State BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya demanded the resignation of Akhilesh Yadav and said that the incident has proved that law and order has collapsed in the State.
“It is unbelievable that the incident occurred merely two km from Bulandshahr city and the family was held hostage for four hours and the women were raped at gun-point. It’s a slap on the face of police administration, which makes tall claims of ensuring safety of people,” he said.
BJP MP from Bulandshahr Bhola Singh said, “It is a sad and painful incident. My sympathies are with the family. I have spoken to the police and the administration. Those guilty should be handed out stringent punished.”
“When a woman accompanied by her family is not safe, how would women travelling alone be safeIJ Under the SP’s rule, even the streets are not safe, let alone the highways. In villages, girls and women cannot go out of homes... it’s goonda raj,” he added.
Describing the incident as “chilling”, “barbaric” and one that has “shocked human conscience”, the State Congress said that the SP Government must take decisive action.
“The gangrape is heart-rending, it’s shocking. The way a woman and her daughter were raped in front of the male members of the family is indeed traumatic. It is a chilling commentary on how barbaric human beings can become,” Congress spokesman Satyadeo Tripathi said.
“What is the Samajwadi Party and the Akhilesh Government going to do about itIJ Please, for Heaven’s sake, take decisive action and punish the perpetrators of the ghastly crime at the earliest,” he said.