Gurgaon, October 11
The rape horror continues in the state. A six-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped at Laxman Vihar in Sector 5, Gurgaon.

In what comes as yet another blot on the face of the Gurgaon police, a six-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped while she was playing near her house this evening.

The incident came to fore late this evening when the girl failed to return home and her family members along with neighbours went out to search for her.

The anxious parents heard her cries from a deserted ‘kothra’ nearby and found a boy with her.

He and the second accused were caught by the people while the third boy managed to escape.

All accused live in the same area and are aged between 20 and 22 years.

The girl was rushed to a hospital for a medical examination.

The victim’s father, who is from Bihar, said, “What is the fault of my daughter? She is just a child. She doesn’t know what has happened to her and keeps saying that she is in terrible pain. All that I can tell her is that the doctor will set things right even though I know it will not happen.”

“I can’t forget the look on the faces of those demons when they were caught. There was no shame but a sense of victory. My daughter has lost everything in her childhood and all I want is punishment for them. We have no money and strength to fight. Probably will have to go back to our native place but we want police to take action,” added the inconsolable mother.

While no FIR was registered till filing of report but police claimed that it was waiting for the medical examination report.

“It’s high time that the policemen get out of their offices to the streets. Rapes are happening, robbery, loot and snatchings have become the order of the day. We are the unsafest city in the state but the police is sleeping,” said the president of a local RWA.

Ballabgarh, October 11
A suspected case of rape involving a policeman has come to light following recovery of an injured woman lying in an unconscious state on a bypass road in Sector 2 on Wednesday night.

Faridabad Police Commissioner Shatrujit Singh Kapur denied the woman – mother of three children -- had been raped. However, the sequence of events puts the role of the policeman in doubt.

Reports said passersby found the victim lying on the road at night and informed the police, which admitted her to the local civil hospital.

A female relative of the victim was informed from the hospital. On the relative’s version the hospital staff recorded a case of rape in the official register. As per the hospital’s record, the victim was admitted at 12:40 am.

However, the relative shifted the victim from the hospital to a private institute in the nearby Sector 8 at about 4 am without the medical test. She left the hospital after having given in writing that she wanted no further medical treatment.

Raj Kumar Vashisth, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Faridabad, confirmed that the accused policeman was had illicit relationship with the victim. The accused also knew the victim’s husband, a mechanic by profession, and visited their house in Tirkha Colony.

He said the victim’s side have not lodged a rape complaint.

The police version is that the victim was admitted to the hospital for treatment to injuries caused by the policeman’s wife. The latter had assaulted her suspecting her to be having an affair with her husband.

The police commissioner has reportedly deputed the head of Women Cell of the Faridabad police to investigate the case.

Karnal, October 11
While the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) data has put Karnal district on the top in the number of rape cases registered, it has come to light that more than 42 per cent of these cases pertain to the elopement of minor girls with their lovers and are not cases of forcible or gang rape.

Of the 40 rape cases registered in Karnal up to September this year, more than 17 are of elopement of minor girls with lovers.

So far as heinous crime was concerned, two cases of gang rape occurred in Karnal district this year, compared to four last year. Interestingly, in 15 cases, the girls later said that they had deserted their husbands as they were forced to marry or given some intoxicant. In most of the cases, the pressure of the parents on the girls was allegedly responsible for changing the statement.

Rape cases need a re-look as all the cases are not gang rape or forcible rape cases. Minors eloping with their lovers and having consensual sex cannot be treated on a par with rape, said AIDS activist Karan Sahu.

Superintendent of police, Karnal, Sushank Anand says that the numerical data might not present the true picture and nature of crime. In all cases, the accused is a person known to the girls. He said the women’s helpline was in place to cater 24x7.

A large number of NGOs and civil grievance committees are functional in the area to educate masses about evils in society and the registration of cases indicates the awareness level about female rights in the district and women feel empowered to report crime, he added.

The high acquittal rate in rape cases which was 82 per cent till September last year, has gone up to 92 per cent during the current year and it raises a serious question that whether all such cases be registered under Section 376 and no distinction is made between heinous crime and consensual sex with minor girls.

Chandigarh, October 11
Stepping up its ante against India Against Corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal over his allegations of a DLF-Congress-Robert Vadra nexus in land deals, Haryana Parliamentary affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala attempted to demolish these, saying that the Congress party was not in power in the state at the said time.

Addressing a press conference, here today, Surjewala said activists of a “yet-to-be named political party had launched a concerted vilification campaign with an overt and covert political agenda by alleging an effort by the Congress government in Haryana to favour DLF Limited.”

On the alleged permission to sell land by the East India Company to DLF and the non-construction of the hospital, giving dates, Surjewala, the government’s Man Friday, came out with a detailed chronology of events to prove that it was the Haryana Vikas Party-Bharatiya Janta Party and the Indian National Lok Dal that was in power at that time.

“We only carried forward the process set in motion by the previous governments. We were not in power when the acquisition was initiated, when the MoU took place and when the land was sold. The compromise for the release of 30 acres of land was entered into in October 1997 when the HVP-BJP government was in power in Haryana and the compromise following a court case took place during the INLD-BJP rule. So where is the question of unfair dealing on the part of the Congress?” he asked.

Saying that the land was never reserved for a hospital, he said Kejriwal chose to overlook certain facts, including the one that this 30 acres of land was not owned by either the Government of Haryana or gram panchayat or any other government authority. “This was private land and the sale-purchase was between two business houses. These facts by themselves demolish the allegation of any special favour by the Congress government to DLF Limited and their press release omits what is not suitable to their cause,” he said.

On the alleged handing over of 350 acres of land in Wazirabad, Gurgaon, the plan was setting up a leisure and business centre conceptualised in 2002-03, during a foreign visit of a delegation led by the then Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala.

“This project was conceptualised by the INLD-BJP government and HUDA decided to contribute land acquired for residential sectors for this project. The INLD-BJP government issued notifications under Sections 4 and 6. Even this project has been challenged by way of two PILs. If the IAC activists are sure of their facts, they are free to put up their assertions for an appropriate judicial verdict by the court. Why are they shying away from doing so?” Surjewala questioned.

Replying to allegations of the increase of Floor Area Ratio for DLF, the minister said these were factually wrong and misleading. “There is no change in density as alleged. In the developmental plan of 2025, density of population of all sectors of Gurgaon was depicted in terms of ‘persons per acre’ (ppa), which has been shown as ‘persons per hectare’ (pph) in the draft developmental plan of 2031. The density of population norms in this area were decided by the state government on 06-07-1995 and have remained unchanged since then,” he emphasised.

Claiming there was no quid pro quo as was being made out by the IAC, he concluded that the “entire set of allegations are factually incorrect and emerge out of make believe innuendos." Asked if the Congress would proceed against Kejriwal, Surjewala said that he did not want to enter into an allegation-counter-allegation contest. 

Chandigarh, October 11
The Indian National Lok Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party today demanded a high-level inquiry by a retired high court judge into the alleged "land scams" by the Haryana government to benefit Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra.

The INLD supremo, Om Prakash Chautala, claimed that a land deal in Shakarpuri village of Mewat favouring Vadra's real estate company smacked of a scam and named a sitting Congress MLA for getting the land registered.

"Land in the village with a collector rate of Rs 4.5 crore and a market value of Rs 14 crore was bought at a throwaway price of Rs 71 lakh. Five registries way below the collector rate were made in Ferozepur Jhirkha tehsil of Mewat while a sixth one came a few days later. Ordinarily, the collector rate is half or one-third of the market value but they bought it at Rs 16 lakh per acre when the value was Rs 50 lakh per acre," he claimed.

On the allegations of a nexus between the Congress government, Vadra and DLF, levelled by Kejriwal, Chautala said that Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda did not come forward to clarify the government's position and, instead, left it to two officers to do so. "The reality is that all rules were broken to benefit DLF in lieu of the favours the company bestowed on Vadra. Of all the scams in the country, the land scam by the Haryana government will some day prove to be the biggest," he said.

Highlighting that during his term as Chief Minister, a proposal to acquire 912 acres was made for constructing houses for industrial workers and Section 4 notification was made, he said, after the Congress government came to power, it released this land to favour builders who bought it. He cited instances of such a realease in Sonepat also.

Earlier, making a U-turn after supporting the idea of Khap panchayats to reduce the marriageable age of boys and girls to 16 years to curb incidents of rape, former Haryana chief minister Om Parkash Chautala, denied making the statement.

Chautala said that his party had "neither supported nor rejected the demand". 

Sonepat, October 11
Activists of the local unit of the India Against Corruption (IAC) today burnt the effigies of Robert Vadra and Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda at Chhotu Ram Chowk.

The activists, led by Raj Singh Dalal, member of the state unit of IAC, raised slogans against the government and demanded a white paper on the land deals between the state government, DLF and Robert Vadra. The entire exercise was to oblige the congress president Sonia Gandhi, they alleged.

They also blamed the state government for its failure to check the increasing cases of rapes and said the government should resign on moral grounds. 

Chandigarh, October 11
The protocol of the medical examination of rape cases has been revised for doctors through the Health Department to ensure effective investigation of such cases, Haryana Director-General of Police Rajiv Dalal said here today.

Addressing a press conference, he said that 400 more policewomen would be recruited to strengthen the police force in the state.

He said the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) had written to the Punjab and Haryana High Court to transfer such cases to fast track courts to ensure speedy justice.

He said the state government was concerned about crimes against women. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has convened a meeting of senior officers of police department here tomorrow to review the steps taken to check crime against women.

He cautioned that in most of the cases, the crime was committed by those known to the women but that did not reduce its gravity.

He said neither any woman nor child could be called
to any police station for recording a statement as the police gets it done at their homes. Each police station has four to 10 women constables in the state and women lawyers have also been empanelled to facilitate the women, he added.

Chandigarh, October 11
Haryana today became the first state in north India to disburse student scholarship payments using the Aadhar-enabled payment system. The payments, which are made through micro-ATMs, happens after online authentication with Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) data server.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda inaugurated the project here today in the presence of Chairman of UIDAI Nandan Nilekani.

The beneficiaries were students from Government Senior Secondary School, Durana village of Ambala district. There are more than 800 scholarship beneficiaries in Durana, of which most have enrolled for an Aadhar number. 

Rewari, October 11
Two persons, including a computer operator of the Haryana police, died while two police constables and a class IV woman employee of the Delhi police sustained grave injuries when the Qualis in which they were travelling rammed into a trailer parked on the Mahendergarh-Rewari road, near Berli Turn here, last night.

The deceased have been identified as Yogesh Kumar Soni, a resident of Mohalla Bas Sitab Rai, computer operator with the Haryana police at Bhiwani, and Deepak Kumar, driver. The injured include Soni’s colleague Vijay Kumar, Amrit Lal, a Delhi police constable, and Krishna Devi, a class IV employee of the Delhi police.

While Vijay has been admitted in a private hospital at Gurgaon, Amrit and Krishna were referred to the PGIMS, Rohtak.

Condoling the demise of Soni who got married about four months ago, goldsmiths in Rewari kept their shops closed till noon today. The police has registered a case against the absconding trailer driver.

Yogesh, Vijay, Amrit and Krishna had reportedly sought a lift in the Qualis.

Jind, October 11
Alarmed over the recent spate of incidents relating to crime against women, the police has launched a helpline for women. It is for the first time that such helpline has been started in the district, which has recorded at least four rape cases in the past couple of months.

The visit of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to a Dalit girl’s house who had immolated herself after the rape recently has perhaps mounted a huge pressure on the state police to initiate new measures to curb such incidents.

“The local police has released the helpline- 8814011507 so that any victim can call at any time and the police will respond to it in minimum possible time,” SSP Saurabh Singh said. He said this helpline had been launched to make available the police assistance to women residents in the district, who feel insecure or face any kind of threat from criminals or anti-social elements.

Admitting that the recent incidents of rape had resulted in a kind of scare, he said it was job of the police to take measures to ensure safety to the common man and especially, the fairer sex, which had been more vulnerable. Claiming that the helpline would be made operational round-the-clock, he said cooperation of the people and especially, women residents would help in making this facility serves its purpose and create general awareness among the people.

HISAR: IGP (Hisar Range) AS Chawla on Thursday directed all SPs of the range to depute police officers to visit villages and seek the help of villagers to curb crime against women in particular and other crimes in general.

In a press release issued here, he said they had been directed to take strict legal action against persons who consumed liquor at public places and also other anti-social elements. He said women helpline had been started in all districts of the range. The mobile numbers were Hisar- 88140-11360, Bhiwani- 88140-11460, Jind- 8814011507, Sirsa- 88140-11630 and Fatehabad- 88140-11718. Special hoardings would be erected outside police stations listing rights of minor girls.

Special hoardings would be erected outside police stations listing rights of minor girls.

He said till September 30 a total of 114 cases of rape had been registered as against 120 cases registered last year during the same period. Out of these 114 cases, 19 cases were of gang rape. In 21 cases, victims were Dalits.

He appealed to the public to extend all cooperation to the police in curbing such crimes.

Kaithal, October 11
A team of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes today visited Kaithal and Kalayat towns and got a first-hand information about the alleged rape of a Dalit girl of Kalayat and follow up action from officials of the district administration. The team comprising MR Bali, advisor to the SC/ST Commission, and SN Meena, under secretary, met parents of the rape victim in Kalayat.

They also had a talk with Deputy Commissioner Chander Shekhar and Superintendent of Poilce Kuldip Singh. Inspector General of Police (Karnal range) Balbir Singh, ADC Dinesh Singh Yadav, SDM Hawa Singh and other officials were also present on this occasion.

Talking to mediapersons, Bali said PL Punia, chairman of the SC/ST Commission, had send them and they had a talk with the victim’s parents who were satisfied by prompt action taken by the administration and the police in this case. The accused were arrested without any delay and the family was given financial assistance of Rs 65,000.

He expressed his total satisfaction over the steps taken by the district administration. He said now the commission would review the cases of victimisation of women anywhere in the country, including Haryana, on daily basis and would seek a report about the steps taken by administration in such cases.

IG Balbir Singh said a special campaign had been launched to check activities of anti-social elements against women. He assured that strict action would be taken against the guilty.

The DC and the SP told about the various steps taken by them to ensure safety of women and to provide necessary help to the victim’s family.

Rewari, October 11
The police has arrested Om Prakash, director of a coaching centre at Kosli, on charges of molesting a girl receiving coaching at the centre and attempt to murder the husband of his co-director Bimla Devi.

He was today produced in a Kosli court which remanded him in 14-day judicial custody. Om Prakash and Bimla Devi, both residents of Jhajjar district, are running a residential coaching centre to impart instructions to boys and girls preparing for the entrance test of Sainik schools.

Two girls and 16 boys are at present receiving coaching at the centre.

Sources said that when Om Prakash allegedly made a bid to coerce a 10-year old girl student to sleep in his room on Sunday night, the girl divulged the matter next morning to the co-director, Bimla Devi. When she confronted Om Prakash, he got infuriated tried to manhandle Bimla Devi, who then she called her husband.

At this, the furious Om Prakash allegedly aimed his pistol at him and threatened to kill him. Bimla Devi then summoned the girl’s guardians and told them of Prakash’s “evil designs”. The girl’s mother filed a complaint following which the police registered a case of molestation, attempt to murder, criminal intimidation, under the Arms Act and arrested Om Prakash.

Bhuna (Fatehabad), October 11
Two brothers and their mother jumped into a canal to evade arrest after wife of one of the brothers complained of rape against her husband and brother-in-law with the connivance of their mother.

The mother Krishna Devi was rescued. The local divers fished out the body of the complainant’s husband Anil (35), while his younger brother Sunil is untraceable. The police is yet to act in the case.

A woman from Bhuna town today lodged a complaint with the police that her husband and brother-in-law raped her with connivance of their mother and the trio also beat her up.

However, when a police party went to the woman’s house in connection with the case without registering any FIR, Krishna Devi and her two sons locked their house and rode on a motorcycle towards the canal where the three jumped into it by tying themselves with a rope. The knot of rope on Krishna Devi’s body somehow opened and she was saved from drowning, but both Anil and Sunil were swept away by the currents of water.

Later, the local divers managed to fish out Anil’s body while efforts were still on the find out Sunil.

In her complaint, the victim has alleged that she was married to Anil for seven years and had two children. She alleged that her Sunil kept an evil eye on her from the beginning and she had told this to her husband and mother-in-law on several occasions, who, however, snubbed her each time. Last night, her mother-in-law asked her to give a glass of water to Sunil, who was consuming liquor at that time. The victim alleged that Sunil overpowered her and raped her.

She added that when she raised an alarm, her mother-in-law and husband also came to the room and thrashed her mercilessly. The woman alleged that later, her husband also raped her against her will and the trio threatened her of dire consequences in case she reported the matter to anyone.

For several hours, the police failed to take any action on her complaint. While the victim and her kin pressed for action, some residents came to the police station on behalf of the accused and started putting pressure for a compromise.

SP Vikas Dhankhar said the police was investigating and not in a position to say anything at this stage.