Murthal mystery: First victim of alleged gang-rape incidents comes forward, FIR lodged

After six days of mystery on a series of alleged gang-rapes committed in Haryana’s Murthal during the Jat quota stir, a victim has reportedly gathered courage and approached the state police on Sunday. An FIR has been lodged to this effect. “A woman has come forward and told the Haryana Police that she was pulled out of a car and gang-raped in Murthal on the night of February 22."— a NDTV report said. [caption id=“attachment_2638680” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The alleged gang-rapes happened during the quota protests by Jats. PTI[/caption] Significantly, the FIR also names the victims brother-in-law including six others. The victim is a Delhi resident from Narela. With the alleged involvement of the brother-in-law, the police are also looking into the angle of a family dispute. “The woman told the police she was accompanied by her 12-year-old daughter, who was let-off unharmed, when they were pulled out of the car by seven men including her relative."— the NDTV report said. According to a Zee News report “…clothes and undergarments of women were found strewn in the area but Haryana Police claimed that these could have fallen out from bags of the commuters who were stopped and chased away by the Jat protestors who set their vehicles on fire later.” Despite the FIR by one of the alleged victims, the gang-rapes still remain shrouded in mystery as details are emerging in a scarce manner. Three truck drivers who claimed to have witnessed the crimes on Saturday, denied having witnessed any incident of alleged molestation or rape of women during the pro-quota Jat agitation at Murthal in Sonepat district, police said on Sunday. “Three truck drivers have denied that they had seen molestation or rape of women (at Murthal),” Haryana Police, DIG, Rajshree Singh said. Truck drivers Sukhwinder, Abdul Wahid and Yadwinder have, however, said that their trucks were burnt by agitators. A team of three women police officers –DIG Rajshree Singh, DSPs Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur was formed by Haryana government “to gather information concerning the alleged incident of sexual assault on some women near Murthal on the intervening night of February 22 and 23.” Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had on Saturday asked people to share information, if they have any, with the state police regarding the alleged incident. With input from PTI