The horrific torture, gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old Dalit woman has sent shockwaves across Haryana's Rohtak, bringing back memories of the brutal Delhi rape of a young woman on a bus in December, 2012. The woman's mutilated body was found by her family on 11 May after she went missing for two days, and such was the state of her body, that she could only be identified through her clothes.
Her post mortem report last night revealed horrific details of the torture she had undergone at the hands of an accused she had allegedly slapped and refused to marry. The police, on arresting Sumit, 24, one of the two accused in the rape and murder, found out the details of the crime. Sumit and Vikas (28), who were arrested for possessing illegal weapons, allegedly confessed to Sonipat SP Ashwin Shenvi that they had smashed the woman's face with bricks in an attempt to hide her identity.
According to her autopsy, the bones of her skull were shattered into pieces and "some sharp-edged objects may have been inserted in her private parts", PTI reported.
"The findings suggest that it was a brutal rape and murder," Dr SK Dhatterwal, head of the department of forensic medicine at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) in Rohtak, who conducted the post-mortem examination, told PTI. The Haryana Police has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. Police also said that the family of the victim suspected the involvement of six more persons, out of whom five were related to Sumit.
The autopsy report said that that her "oesophagus (food pipe) was missing and gnawing effects were seen over chest. Her face, tongue, eyes and ears were totally distorted. He face was not identifiable."
National Commission for Women member Rekha Sharma, who met the family of the victim, assured them that the accused will get "exemplary punishment like the killers of Nirbhaya".
Her family has alleged that they had approached the Sonipat police about a month back with a complaint that Sumit was harassing their daughter, but no action was taken. However, Shenvi said, "there was a verbal complaint given some time back by the woman to Sonipat police saying that the main accused was asking her to marry him. It was a verbal complaint, there was no written complaint to police station."
"However, later the complainant and her mother again came to the police station and said they had struck a compromise, and there no need for police action," the officer claimed. Rohtak Range Inspector General of Police Navdeep Virk said that the family gave the names of six more persons last evening.
Maximum possible penalty will be awarded to the accused. We will appeal for fast-tracking of the case :Akil Ahmad,Additional DGP #Rohtakpic.twitter.com/xgjDFzS0a4
— ANI (@ANI_news) May 14, 2017
The victim, said to be a divorcee, had been abducted from Sonipat on 9 May and taken to Rohtak in a car, police said. Sonipat police sub-inspector Ajay Malik told PTI that the victim was raped first and then the suspects hit her with a brick, smashing her face.
"He was putting pressure on her to marry him and used to threaten her. A week ago, he stopped her when she was returning from work. When she resisted, he threatened and abused her. She slapped him and ran home," said the mother in her statement to the police.
While Sumit has a private job, Vikas works as a car mechanic.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)