A 22-year-old woman was allegedly kidnapped and raped by four men in a moving car in Ghaziabad on Monday night. She was dumped near Fortis hospital in Noida around midnight with her hands and legs tied and a bottle shoved inside her.
The main accused, who is known to the victim, has been detained by Ghaziabad police. An FIR has been registered and her statement recorded. However, the FIR doesn’t mention the assault with the bottle — the brutality of which brings back memories of the December 16, 2012 gang-rape of a woman on a moving bus in Delhi.
Read: Muzaffarnagar teacher gang-raped, act filmed
The gang-rape happened despite the victim having approached the Meerut zone IG last week seeking protection. “She feared an attack from the accused, so she went to meet a senior officer. The IG asked her to meet the Ghaziabad SSP for protection. She was supposed to meet the SSP on Tuesday but was attacked on Monday night,” her friend told HT.
The 22-year-old told the police she was shopping in the Vasundhara area when the men pulled her inside a Maruti van, beat her, tied her up and raped her, even assaulting her with an alcohol bottle. They made an MMS before dumping her.
{{/usCountry}}The 22-year-old told the police she was shopping in the Vasundhara area when the men pulled her inside a Maruti van, beat her, tied her up and raped her, even assaulting her with an alcohol bottle. They made an MMS before dumping her.
{{/usCountry}}The victim was rescued by Satish Bhati, a passerby. “I was walking home when I heard a cry. I saw her bleeding and tied up. She was crying loudly, complaining of a pain in her stomach. This is when I noticed a bottle had been inserted in her private parts. I immediately pulled it out and dialed 100. The police came but instead of taking her to the hospital, they took her to the police post,” said Bhati.
Read: Badaun rape: CBI to exhume victims' bodies
After taking down her complaint and statement, then police took the victim to the district hospital, where a medical exam was conducted. Doctors confirmed rape with severe injuries.
According to the victim’s friend, the accused had been blackmailing and abusing her for a while now. “They were earlier friends but he made an obscene MMS of her and started blackmailing, abusing and torturing her. He burnt her legs with cigarettes. He also forced her to give false statements in two cases. In the first, he forced her to file a rape complaint against a man so he could extort money from him. In the other, the victim was made to give a false statement against a minor girl, who has registered a case of rape against the accused. On both occasions, the victim later confessed in court that she had lied. Since then, the accused has wanted revenge,” the friend said.
“We are investigating the case. In previous instances, the victim has changed her statement in court, so we are investigating the veracity of her statement this time round. If this case is found to be fake, she will be booked,” said Ghaziabad SSP Dharmendra Singh.
Read: Cops gang-rape woman inside police station in Uttar Pradesh
Read: CM under fire over 4 more rapes reported in UP