Chandigarh, February 21
A 40-year-old mother of five fell to lustful security guards of the Haryana Raj Bhawan, yards away from Punjab Raj Bhawan, the official residence of the Administrator of Chandigarh, in the wee hours today.
The policemen have been identified as Dinesh Kumar, a commando, and Vijayender Singh, a constable in the Haryana Armed Police. Both have been arrested while their guest, the other accused, Seetu of Rohtak, is at large.
The Haryana Police has suspended Vijayender and Dinesh. A departmental inquiry by senior officers of their respective units had also been ordered.
The police has also issued suspension orders of Commando In-charge of security of Haryana Raj Bhawan Sub Inspector Jagpal Singh for his dereliction of duty as he was the in charge of the security at the time of alleged rape.
The incident took place shortly after midnight when the woman, a part-time cook working for a private caterer, was returning home in Mohali. A man in plain clothes stopped the auto-rickshaw she was travelling in near
the Haryana Raj Bhawan. He demanded a matchbox from the occupants of the auto-rickshaw.
Infuriated on being refused a matchbox, he wanted the occupants to get off the vehicle before picking an altercation with them. By that time, a couple of his colleagues also joined him.
Smelling trouble, the auto-rickshaw driver managed to escape under the cover of darkness, leaving the woman and her employer, Mahavir, at the mercy of the three.
They then dragged the woman and Mahavir into their official residence, a part of the Raj Bhawan complex. While Mahavir was locked in a bathroom, the woman was taken to a room where she was raped by two of the three accused.
In the meanwhile, Mahavir managed to break the door of the bathroom and called up his colleagues and the police to narrate the horrendous experience he and his employee had undergone.
Meanwhile, one of the accused, Vijayender, had a change of heart. Realising the gravity of crime, he sought an apology by offering to get a rakhi tied from her.
To make further amends, he also hired an auto-rickshaw and escorted the victim to her home. As no one was there, he even made a call to victim’s sister. Meanwhile, the police reached the spot at 2.37 am and the woman was told to come to the spot where she reached with Vijayender.
The police registered a case of rape, wrongful restraint, causing hurt, criminal intimidation and common intention under various provisions of the IPC on the victim’s statement.
According to the SHO of the Sector 3 police station, inspector Ram Gopal, Vijayender was booked for wrongful confinement only and not for rape. UT SSP Srivastva visited the spot and the police station and met senior police officer of the Haryana police in this regard.
