Chandigarh, October 3
Haryana’s growing rape shame couldn’t get worse. Four more rape cases were reported from different parts of the state today, raising the the total number of such cases to 10 during the past one month.

While two Dalit women fell prey to perverted minds, two minor girls, one of whom allegedly eloped with a boy, were hapless victims of what is beginning to assume alarming proportions in a state which has earned notoriety for an acutely skewed sex ratio with boys outnumbering girls. Observers feel that the rising number of rapes is also, in a way, reflective of the disintegration of the social fabric of the society.

In Narwana subdivision of Jind district, a 26 year-old girl of Gurthali was raped by a “middleman”, allegedly entrusted by her kin to sell her off on the pretext of meeting a relative in an adjoining village. The incident took place in a secluded field while they were on their way back after the party “rejected” her. The accused was arrested after the driver of the vehicle they were travelling in raised an alarm. This is the third case of rape in Jind alone in the last month or so.

The Chief Minister’s home district, Rohtak was in the news for the wrong reasons for the second day running. A 12-year-old student of Class VI was raped by a middle-aged man when she was alone at her home. Her father, an autorickshaw driver and her mother, a labourer, were away for work. The perpetrator of the crime fled after the shameful act even as the victim’s shocked aunt tried to nab him. Only yesterday, the case of a 17-year-old girl been raped was reported from the district.

Days after a girl was picked up from the market in Gohana and gangraped, a newly married girl of Banwasa village was allegedly kidnapped on September 28 from a level crossing in Gohana town by four youths. She was released on October 2. She was reportedly raped by the kidnappers.

In yet another case, a youth allegedly raped a minor girl in Kalanwali in Sirsa. The girl was lured by the youth on September 28 and was traced after her parents lodged a police complaint. Medical examination of the victim confirmed rape.