The National Commission for Women’s (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma said on Wednesday they have taken the cognisance of the gang-rape and murder of a 50-year-old woman reported in the Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh, adding that a member will meet the victim’s relatives and police. “We have taken cognisance of the matter. One NCW member is going to the spot to investigate the matter to meet the family and the police and take an exact stock of the situation,” Sharma told news agency ANI.
The 50-year-old Anganwadi worker was gang-raped and brutally murdered allegedly by a priest and his two aides in the Budaun district, according to police. They said two of the accused were arrested on Tuesday, while the priest was on the run and four teams had been formed to nab him. “The post-mortem report confirms rape and there are injuries in her private parts and a fracture in the leg,” senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sankalp Sharma said.
SSP Sharma also said that the station house officer of the Ughaiti police station was suspended for laxity in the case. The woman, who had gone to a temple on Sunday, was found dead under mysterious circumstances, Sharma said adding that the victim’s family accused the temple priest and his aides of raping and murdering her and that a case was registered against them. “The victim’s son said his mother had gone to offer prayers at the temple on Sunday but she did not return. However, around 11pm, the temple priest and two of his aides came to his house and handed over his mother’s body,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}SSP Sharma also said that the station house officer of the Ughaiti police station was suspended for laxity in the case. The woman, who had gone to a temple on Sunday, was found dead under mysterious circumstances, Sharma said adding that the victim’s family accused the temple priest and his aides of raping and murdering her and that a case was registered against them. “The victim’s son said his mother had gone to offer prayers at the temple on Sunday but she did not return. However, around 11pm, the temple priest and two of his aides came to his house and handed over his mother’s body,” he said.
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The rape, which comes months after the Hathras gang-rape case, has led to strong criticism of the BJP-led government in UP by opposition parties. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged there was something wrong in Uttar Pradesh’s administration when it comes to women security. Tagging a media report, she tweeted, “In Budaun, the police station officer did not listen to the one pleading and did not even examine the place of the incident. There is something wrong in the UP government’s intentions on women’s security.”
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala termed the crime as ‘gruesome’ and also questioned as to when will the Yogi Adityanath government in the state wake up. The Samajwadi Party said that the guilty should be punished at the earliest and justice should prevail.
(With agency inputs)