Punjab: Dalit woman dragged out of office, raped; accused surrenders
Muktsar (Punjab) : In a shocking incident, a Dalit woman was dragged out of her office and allegedly raped by a man in Punjab’s Muktsar district. The incident was recorded on CCTV camera installed in a nearby shop in Malout.
On March 25, the accused dragged the woman out of a computer centre, where she works, in broad day light, took her to a farmhouse in Tapa Khera village and raped her.
The woman, said to be in early 20s, is seen struggling to break free from her alleged abductor, identified as Gurinder, aged around 25. Despite shouting for help, she failed to seek attention from bystanders. Motorbikes passed by but didn’t come to her rescue. She was released the next day.
Muktsar's SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill said on Saturday that about five days after the incident, the woman had got an FIR registered after which the police were on a lookout for the accused. “She had threatened that if the accused was not arrested she will hang herself to death," the police said.
The accused youth surrendered before a court in Muktsar on Friday and has been remanded to police custody for three days.
A case had been registered against the accused under various provisions of the law including abduction and rape, Gill said. However, his accomplice is still absconding, the SSP said and the car in which the accused had abducted the victim is yet to be recovered.
Both, the accused, who is into farming, and victim hail from Punjab’s Kandu Khera village, said the police.
Sumit Kumar, the owner of the computer centre and also a witness of abduction, said, "The youth had come to meet the victim. They were chatting so we thought he was known to her. But soon he tried to abduct the girl, and when we protested, he started fighting with us. The entire episode is recorded on CCTV camera."
The woman and her family has approached National Commission for Scheduled Castes for speedy justice, which has taken note of the incident and asked the SSP to file a report on the matter in the next 15 days.
