PATIALA: Harassed by policemen and constantly threatened by her rapists, a minor ended her life on Wednesday night in a village near Patiala, over one-and-a-half month after she was abducted and gang-raped.
In her suicide note, the 17-year-old victim blamed three men and a woman for "destroying her life, which forced to her commit suicide."
The victim was abducted from Samana in Patiala district and gangraped on November 13. However, it took the local police over two weeks to register a case of rape. And, her tormentors roamed free - though the victim named them in her report - till she killed herself by consuming poison on Wednesday night.
Fearing criticism following her death, the police acted only on Wednesday night, arresting three, including a woman. Another named in the FIR is absconding. Charges of abetment to suicide were also slapped on them.
While an assistant sub-inspector and station house officer of Ghagga police station were dismissed, a DSP was suspended. IGP (Patiala) Paramjit Gill has ordered a departmental inquiry.
The incident has left the Punjab Police shamed as it comes close on the heels of an assistant sub-inspector being gunned down in broad daylight by a SAD leader in Amritsar when he tried to save his daughter from being harassed earlier this month.
In Patiala, not only did the cops refuse to register a case or arrest the accused, they also harassed the victim by asking her "awkward questions" and passing vulgar remarks whenever the victim would visit the Ghagga police station requesting registration of a case.
And, if this was not enough, the accused - Balwinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh and Sandip Singh - had started threatening her and pressuring her not to approach the police or be ready to face dire consequences.
All the accused are clerks with commission agents at local grain markets.
Scared, the victim had even shifted from her village to her relative's house in Samana town near her village on November 29. But, the accused followed her there too.
When the police failed to register a case despite her repeated rounds to the police station, the victim had gone on record on a video and told a local television channel how police were pressuring her to withdraw her complaint.
The victim, a class 9 dropout, was abducted in the evening by Balwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh from her village, forcibly pushed inside a car, and taken to a room near a tubewell in the field in nearby Brahamanmajra village and gangraped.
As per her complaint, the girl was repeatedly raped after the accused forcibly made her to swallow some drugs and was later dumped near the gurdwara of her village.
She has also stated that her neighbour Shinderpal Kaur, the fourth accused, was present at the time of her abduction and helped the accused.
According to victim's elder sister, the police, instead of registering a case, mentally tortured her.
"She would be asked to visit the police station alone in the night and was asked uneasy questions on the pretext of taking her statement," said her sister.
"She used to be the lone woman in the police station when the male policemen would ask her questions like - "How did they raped you?" After that they would threaten her to withdraw her complaint," she added.
When the victim did not budge, the police were forced to register a case on November 27.
According to the victim's mother, the accused had also offered her Rs 5 lakh for not pursuing the case and even the village panchayat members forced the family to withdraw the complaint.
"My daughter died because of these three men and a woman and the policemen who threatened and harassed her. A case should be registered against the policemen too for creating a situation that led to my daughter's death," she said.
Punjab’s shame: Minor kill self over gang rape
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Punjab’s shame: Minor kill self over gang rape
