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Woman with ‘controversial past’ feted, CM orders probe
Rekha Rani Dhiman, a local activist with a controversial past, received the Indira Gandhi Mahila Shakti Award on International Women’s Day and a cash prize of ₹1.50 lakh from Saini.
After outrage over an NGO head with an alleged controversial past getting felicitated at a women’s day function, Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Sunday ordered a probe into the Jind administration’s “failure” to verify her background.
“The CM has ordered an inquiry into the matter and strict action would be taken against officials responsible for the oversight,” Saini’s media coordinator Ashok Chhabra said.
Rekha Rani Dhiman, a local women’s rights activist with a ‘controversial past’, received the Indira Gandhi Mahila Shakti Award on International Women’s Day and a cash prize of ₹1.50 lakh from Saini.
Officials claimed Dhiman was recognised for rescuing and rehabilitating victims of prostitution through her NGO, Udaan Hoslon Ki.
However, police records reveal she had been jailed in 2020 for filing a false rape complaint and is currently out on bail.
According to records, Dhiman lodged a rape complaint against 12 people in Jind in 2020, alleging they had drugged and blackmailed her for two years.
However, an investigation led by the then ASP Safidon, Ajit Singh Shekhawat, found her claims to be false.
She was arrested and had to spend 33 days in Jind jail.
This was not her first such case—she had filed similar complaints in Rohtak in 2012 and against 26 people in Hisar in 2015, both of which were later proven to be false, according to police records.
Jind deputy commissioner Mohammad Imran Raza said, “Rekha Rani Dhiman had disclosed her past cases in an affidavit while applying for the award. Since the court has not yet convicted her and the matter is still pending, her name was forwarded to the Haryana women and child development department for consideration.”
“Of the 12 applicants from Jind, 11 names were forwarded for selection,” Raza further added.
