Pregnant woman raped by neighbours, 2 arrested

In a grim reminder of the Mayapuri gangrape in which a hearing-and-speech-impaired woman was raped in a moving car seven years ago, a pregnant 22-year-old polio-affected woman was gangraped at knifepoint allegedly by three youths in her neighbourhood in west Delhi’s Vikas Nagar area on Friday.

In a grim reminder of the Mayapuri gangrape in which a hearing-and-speech-impaired woman was raped in a moving car seven years ago, a pregnant 22-year-old polio-affected woman was gangraped at knifepoint allegedly by three youths in her neighbourhood in west Delhi’s Vikas Nagar area on Friday.

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The victim, who is nine months pregnant and walks with difficulty as her left leg was struck by polio, was gangraped in the house of one of the three accused, Sanjay. She has alleged that her tormentors were drunk and dragged her inside the house when she was returning home after meeting her aunt nearby.

Alleging that investigators tried to hush up the crime, the woman claimed she was initially made to file a complaint saying the accused only tried to rape her.

Senior police officers, however, claimed the victim herself was not ready to lodge a complaint of rape as she feared being ostracised.

The victim, who lives at her parents' house, was overpowered by the youths from behind and dragged into Sanjay's house.

"Inside the house, at knifepoint, they took turns to rape me. They fled after some locals heard me screaming for help and assembled outside. I was so traumatised that I ran out of the house for help without any clothes on as soon as they disappeared," said the victim who is being counseled by a local NGO. Her husband is a cook.

The police have arrested two youths, Rinku, 19 and Rahul, 20 but the main accused, Sanjay, 21, is absconding.