Ludhiana, September 23
It is her spine-chilling silence that tells her story. The four-and-a-half-year-old girl of a migrant labourer was allegedly gangraped by six persons outside her residence in the Focal Point area about a month ago. The terror-stricken girl has not spoken since then.

Her mother Chanderawati, said though she had made several representations to the police, no case had been registered against the culprits. She said they were also threatening her against getting a case registered against them.

Chanderawati cannot forget the nightmare of August 25 when she saw her daughter lying unconscious and bleeding profusely. The culprits had fled after gagging her mouth with a piece of cloth so that she could not raise the alarm. “Even after I removed the cloth she was unable to speak and I presumed her dead”, she recalled, adding that she then took her to a hospital at Sahnewal. She said her daughter was examined in the presence of the police.