Mewat rape victim says accused part of cow vigilantes

GURGAON: More than two weeks after the Mewat gang rape, one of the victims has levelled a fresh allegation that the attackers who were arrested were part of a cow

GURGAON: More than two weeks after the Mewat gang rape, one of the victims has levelled a fresh allegation that the attackers who were arrested were part of a cow vigilante group.

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Police, however, said they had no evidence nor a statement from the victim to support the charge. The 22-year-old victim, who lodged the police complaint in the case on August 25, said the attackers told her that the family was being punished for consuming cow meat.

“They (attackers) asked us if we would sacrifice and eat cow meat during Bakri Eid. When we said no, they said we were being punished for consuming cow meat,” the woman said.

She appeared before a TV channel making this fresh allegation. A couple was murdered and a minor girl and her cousin were gang-raped by a group of eight to 10 men on the intervening night of August 24-25 in Dingerheri village.

On August 29, police nabbed four accused, Sandeep, Amarjeet, Karamjeet and Rahul Kumar. The fresh allegation has taken the victim’s relatives by surprise.

“I was not aware about the cow meat allegation. They did not mention this to us before,” said a cousin of the victim. The victim, however, said she told the police about it but was not taken seriously.

Haryana director general of police (DGP), Dr KP Singh said police had no evidence in support of the claim.

During an official visit to Mewat on Sunday, Singh said the victims did not share any such detail with the police. Singh said there was no mention about the fresh allegation in any of the statements recorded in presence of the magistrate or in front of the police. “The victims did not mention any cow vigilante angle in the complaint,” he said.

On September 8, the Haryana government “agreed” to transfer the probe into the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.