Mewat gangrape victim alleges attackers hurt them for 'eating beef'

One of the Mewat gangrape victims has alleged that their attackers were cow vigilantes but the Haryana police on Saturday said no evidence has so far come to the fore suggesting that the four accused arrested in the case were part of any cow protection group. The family of the victims alleged that they had informed the police personnel about the cow vigilantes but they chose to ignore it. [caption id=“attachment_3001442” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “They (attackers) asked us ‘you eat cow meat’. We said ’no’. They then said ‘you eat cow meat’. They said ‘we are killing you because you eat cow’. We told this to the police but they are not doing anything,” one of the two victims said. A couple was murdered and two girls from the family allegedly gang-raped after the accused had barged into their house in the wee hours on 25 August in a village in Mewat district. “I need justice. They have killed my son and daughter-in-law. They have gang-raped my grand-daughters. The way police has behaved, we have no hope,” said the father of the slain man. Police said that the investigation in the case is still on and so far they have not found any link with cow vigilantes. “So far there is no such evidence of them (accused) being cow vigilantes or being part of cow vigilante group,” Inspector General of Police, South Range, Rewari, Mamta Singh said. Singh, however, said that investigations are on. Singh said that the case has been recommended to be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation. On 28 August, Haryana Police had arrested four youths in connection with the incident. The accused had also ransacked the house, an isolated structure located in the middle of farmland, and fled with some valuables including cash. After committing the crime, the accused had tied the injured with ropes and escaped from the spot. Some residents living nearby found the injured after which the police was informed. The arrested have been identified as Sandeep, Amarjeet, Karamjeet and Rahul who live in Mohammadpur Ahir village, less than 3 kilometres away from Dingerheri. According to a report by PTI, the four accused are in their twenties and while two of them work at a private warehouse as office helpers, two others are farmers. A cousin of the women told NDTV  that the main motive of the attackers was rape.  “The four arrested men are known troublemakers in the village and had been seen drinking the morning of the attack,” the cousin said. Meanwhile, CPM wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, seeking his intervention in Mewat’s double murder and alleged gangrape of two girls from a poor family, contending Haryana government has been indifferent to the “gruesome crime perpetrated against a landless family”. In his letter, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury also referred to media reports claiming members of a cow vigilante group were involved in the “barbaric” act and pressed Singh for “most urgent” action in the matter. With inputs from PTI