Activists of the Left- wing association, All India Democratic Women’s Association ( AIDWA), on Saturday marched from Murthal flyover on the Grand Trunk (GT) road in Sonepat to Sukhdev Dhaba, a distance of four km, to protest against the alleged Murthal gangrapes during the Jat stir for reservation.
The group alleged that their team conducted research and found that women belonging from another state, who were passing through Haryana to attend a marriage function, were targeted as they were new to the area and would not know of the “local law environment”. They said the eyewitnesses were deeply terrorised to report against the matter.
Jagmati Sangwan, general secretary of the association, said, “Not only did the administration allowed the situation to drift and escalate, we also learnt that the police intervened in the situation and discouraged the victims of sexual assault and their families from lodging formal complaints. The police argued that there was no chance of identifying and intercepting culprits in the current situation and lodging of complaint will only result in bringing further trauma and dishonor to their families.”
She added, “The police strictly warned the locals of dire consequences if they opened their mouth on the issue. They were threatened that the youths of their villages would be framed in police cases if they confirmed to the occurrence of the sexual assault incidents.”
{{/usCountry}}She added, “The police strictly warned the locals of dire consequences if they opened their mouth on the issue. They were threatened that the youths of their villages would be framed in police cases if they confirmed to the occurrence of the sexual assault incidents.”
{{/usCountry}}The women, in their memorandum to chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court, sought a high-level inquiry to “bring out the truth.” They said, “Given the dubious role of the police and the administration in Haryana, we have serious doubts regarding the impartiality of the investigation.”