'Nine victims in Murthal gangrape, hand probe over to CBI': Jat agitation amicus curiae tells Punjab and Haryana HC

More than a year after reports on alleged sexual assault on women in the fields of Murthal grabbed national headlines, Anupam Gupta — the senior advocate and amicus curiae in the cases related to Jat agitation — told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that nine rapes did take place during the stir, and sought CBI probe. Accusing the Haryana police of failing to probe the matter pertaining to the alleged mass gang rapes, Gupta requested the high court on Thursday to hand the case over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), reported The Times of India. [caption id=“attachment_4138479” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Punjab and Haryana High Court. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Recalling the case for the new division bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal and Justice Amit Rawal, Gupta reiterated that he received the information about the nine rapes from senior IAS officer Vijai Vardhan, despite the bureaucrat’s denial of being the source. According to The Indian Express, Gupta told that Vardhan lacked the “biological element called spine in his biological structure” and succumbed under pressure. Several reports had emerged in February 2016 alleging that women on the national highway near Murthal, Sonepat, were stopped and dragged into the nearby fields and gang-raped on 22 February. Gupta said on Thursday that Vardhan, during a telephonic conversation, had claimed that then DGP KP Singh told him about nine rapes in Murthal,  The Tribune reported. The senior advocate said that if the CBI took over the case, Sukhdev Dhaba owner Amrik Singh, who had initially been vocal about the rapes but denied it to the Special Investigating Team, would “speak like a cannon". The bench adjourned the matter for 6 November for further hearing. The Sonepat police, in a report, said that  no sexual assault took place during the quota stir. But despite the lack of complainants, witnesses or evidence, the Haryana Police had repeatedly assured that the probe will not stop. In June 2016, the SIT report said that there was  no evidence to suggest any instances of sexual violence was perpetrated during the violent quota agitation.