Monday, June 4, 2012

Jun 4, 2012: MP girl set ablaze by rapists

, TNN | Jun 4, 2012, 07.41PM IST
BHOPAL: A 15-year-old girl undergoing treatment with 95 per cent burn injuries gave a statement that stunned the Madhya Pradeshpolice. The family of the victim alleged that the girl was gang raped and set on fire by a group of teenaged miscreants while police is also looking into the possibility of an attempted "honour killing".

Monday morning, officers at the Khurai police station in Sagar district received information that a teenaged girl from Khajra Harchand village has been rushed to the Sagar district hospital with severe burn injuries. When the police asked the victim at the hospital to narrate the incident, the girl alleged that she was raped by four boys of the same village aged between 18 and 8 years.She also claimed that after the rape, the accused poured kerosene on her and she was allegedly set ablaze by the same boys - two of who were as young as ten years and eight years.

Speaking to TOI, the inspector-in-charge of Khurai police station and investigating officer of the case TS Usrate said: "In her statement, the girl said that the rape occurred in the late evening hours on Sunday when she went out into the fields to relieve herself along with two siblings." She named four boys Mukesh Kurmi (18), Deepak Vishwakarma (18), and two other minors aged 10 and eight. "The victim said that after the rape, she went back home with her siblings and told the family of the unpleasant incident. Her uncle Pappu went out in search of the boys but did not find them. At 7 am on Monday, the four boys suddenly appeared in the victim's house when she was alone. They poured kerosene on her and set the girl on fire," the inspector said. The police reached the village and the girl's younger sisters who accompanied her on Sunday evening gave the same statement.

But the police did not believe the story even though it came from a teenaged victim. "How can an eight-year-old or ten-year-old rape or be an accomplice in a burning case?" asked inspector TS Usrate. "We picked the boys for questioning and brought them to the police station. When we asked them, they narrated another story."

The boys told the police that the girls was having a secret affair with Mukesh Kurmi and had recently developed physical relations with him. On Sunday, the girl came with her sisters and Mukesh with the three boys. The sisters were waiting in one corner of the field while the rape victim walked over to the other side to meet Mukesh. The girl's uncle Pappu saw the two in a compromising position.

"She went back home with the sisters and Mukesh and the boys claim they did not see her after that evening. On Monday morning, the girl suffered 95 per cent burn injuries and is fighting for her life in the district hospital," the officer added.

Police are now investigating the case from three possible angles. One, the victim and her sisters' statement under the guidance of the family members: that she was raped and set on fire by the boys. Two, the boys' statement: that they had no hand in the fire and there was no gang rape. Three, if the boys were not involved in the fire then who set the victim alight? Did she attempt suicide following parental rebuke or is it a case of attempted honour killing? "Investigations have just started. We are talking to people including the village elders, neighbours, family of the girl and the accused boys. Case will be registered soon," TS Usrate said.
Link: MP girl set ablaze by rapists

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