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3 girls gang raped, alleges BJP MP on Twitter. Jharkhand police fact-checks him
The Pakur district police said the three girls at a residential school were taken to hospital because of suspected food poisoning, not gang rape
RANCHI: The Jharkhand Police on Thursday rebutted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nishikant Dubey after he claimed on Twitter that three girls living at a residential school were gang raped and that one of them died.
Police said the three young girls, aged between 10 and 14 years, were taken to hospital due to food suspected poisoning. One girl, a 10-year-old, died at about 11am on July 23.
Dubey, who represents Gonda seat in the Lok Sabha, said in a post on Twitter that three poor tribal girls in the Lithipara block of Pakur district had been gang raped and questioned the silence of the ruling Congress and the media on the issue.
The Pakur police’s Twitter handle contested Dubey’s claim, saying the girls were under treatment at a hospital in the adjoining district of Sahibganj . The district police also cited medical reports to insist that the three children fell ill due to poisoning.
Pakur superintendent of police, Hrudeep P Janardhanan, added: “There has been no case of rape. Police have questioned the hospital authorities after this matter came to light. They have denied the allegations. They said the girls fell ill probably due to food poisoning”.
The convenor of the residential school explained the sequence of events.
“One of the three girls complained of stomach ache at around 2 am. She was rushed to Litipara primary health centre (PHC). By the time we reached the hospital, we received a call that two other girls are also complaining of stomach aches. They too were rushed to the PHC. But since the facility was not fully equipped, we took the three to the ECI mission hospital (in Chandragora). We reached there around 5am. At 11am, one of the three girls died,” the convenor said.
The official said that the girl’s parents were informed about her stomach ache and that they were present at the hospital when she died. “Her body was handed to them. The other two girls are still in the hospital but are out of danger, the official added.
