Under attack over handling of the rape-cum-murder case of a mentally challenged woman from Nepal, the Haryana Police on Monday arrested eight youths here and promised action in case of any lapse by its personnel.
The Opposition Congress latched on to the incident, which came to light on February 4, to target the BJP Government in the State on the law and order situation, saying it was “yet to wake up from the slumber”, and demanded reconstitution of an SIT under an IG-level officer to go into the horrific incident.
DGP Yashpal Singhal, who visited the crime spot, told PTI that the arrested accused are in their twenties. “The case has been cracked and eight youths out of total nine have been arrested from Gaddikhera village, some nine km from Rohtak,” he said.
In a grim reminder of the December 16 Nirbhaya gang-rape in Delhi, a 28-year-old mentally-challenged woman from Nepal was brutally raped and murdered and her body was dumped in a field near a village on the Rohtak-Hisar Highway here.
The woman had been brutally assaulted as the post-mortem report mentions several injuries on her private parts. Stones and blades were found in her stomach.
The victim had been residing with her sister for the past three months and was undergoing treatment at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here.
The victim’s sister had lodged a complaint with police on February 1 and on February 4 the woman’s body was found from the fields in Akbarpur village with several injury marks on it, Rohtak Superintendent of Police Shashank Anand had said.
On the issue of alleged police apathy, the DGP said they swung into action the moment the complaint was lodged and a DSP rank officer is himself working on it. “If, however, any lapse on the part of police officials is found, action will be taken as per law against them,” the DGP said.
After the details of the crime surfaced, Opposition Congress, including former chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, ClP leader Kiran Choudhary and AICC spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala had strongly deplored the incident and accused the Manohar lal Khattar dispensation of lawlessness in the state. The Congress also demanded a special investigation team (SIT) under an IG-level officer to probe the case.