Dalit woman held captive, gang-raped by four men

According to the police, the woman was acquainted with the suspects, who were also residents of her village near Sohna. They allegedly recorded videos of the incident to threaten her to not disclose the incident to her family members. On July 8, they left her at the Ballabhgarh bus stand, following which she contacted her husband and reached home, the police said on Monday

Four men were booked for allegedly raping an 18-year-old Dalit woman at gunpoint after holding her captive for over nine days from June 30, the police said. The woman alleged that she was injected with sedatives and was unconscious for most of the time.

The woman was pumped with sedatives and raped, the police said. (Representative photo)

According to the police, the woman was acquainted with the suspects, who were also residents of her village near Sohna. They allegedly recorded videos of the incident to threaten her to not disclose the incident to her family members. On July 8, they left her at the Ballabhgarh bus stand, following which she contacted her husband and reached home, the police said on Monday.

A case under sections 201 (destruction of evidence), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 365 (kidnapping), 376 D (gang rape) of the Indian Penal Code, relevant sections of the Arms Act and Section 3 of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was registered at the Sohna police station.

The police said that the woman was abducted from a temple on the outskirts of the village. She was talking to an acquaintance when two of his friends arrived in a car and invited her for a ride to Faridabad.

“I asked them for water and after drinking a few sips, I fell unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I was in a room where there were four mattresses and a few liquor bottles. There was no cooler or fan in that room. Another man from our village visited the next morning. They raped me one after another,” the victim told the police in her complaint.

The police said that the suspects threatened her life as well as that of her family members. They disposed of her clothes so that police could not recover any evidence.

Umesh Kumar, station house officer of Sohna police station, said that suspects injected her with sedatives every evening. “When her family members called, they held her at gunpoint and asked her to tell them that she was at a friend’s place and would return soon. They bought her a shirt and a pair of trousers to return home on July 7,” he said.

The woman said that she did not disclose the incident to her family for a few days, but later confided in her husband as her health deteriorated. She was taken to a government hospital as she suffered abdominal pain due to injuries, the police said.

The police recorded her statement before a duty magistrate and are on the lookout for the suspects.