Thursday, 4 August 2011

Kashmiri woman gang raped in Delhi

45-year-old was kidnapped while returning from Delhi airport, taken to a south Delhi house and sexually assaulted by three yet unidentified men

Some things never change. Nullifying claims made by Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta on ensuring safety of women in the Capital, a 45-year-old Kashmiri woman was allegedly kidnapped and raped by three unidentified assailants in Malviya Nagar area of south district. According to police sources, the incident took place on the night of July 29 when the victim (identity withheld) was going back to her cousin's house in Kalkaji from Delhi airport. She had gone to drop off her daughter, who was going to Pune. As per the FIR (which has been lodged at the Malviya Nagar police station), the victim was going to Kalkaji in an auto when it developed a snag.

House of horrors: The building in Khirki Extn. where the incident
occurred. Pic/Mid Day

Dead stop
"I took an auto after dropping off my daughter at about 7.30 pm. The auto broke down near Dhaula Kuan road. I got out of the auto to look for another. In the meantime, a white Innova car arrived with two. The person who was sitting on the front seat beside the driver (about 35-40 years of age) asked me where I was going and I told him the situation. They offered me a lift on the pretext that I wouldn't find an auto here and accepted as they seemed gentle to me," the FIR said.

Representative pic

"I stayed in the car for about 20-25 minutes after which the vehicle stopped near a gate. One of the men got out of the car and forcibly dragged me to the second floor of the house where there was already another person. They raped me there," read the report. The victim also said in her statement that the assailants had switched on the TV on a high volume due to which her screams could not be heard by the neighbours.

'They took turns'
"The man who offered me a lift raped me first. He was wearing a red T-shirt. The driver of the car, who was wearing a white-striped shirt, followed," the FIR said. Police sources said that the victim then tried to run away from the room but was caught by the trio. They then discussed something and after sometime dropped her in the middle of the road at an isolated place and escaped in the same car.

"The woman went back near the place where she was taken and then made a PCR call. We reached the spot and went to that house. However, by then they had escaped and there was no one in the room and there was no sign of the car," police sources said. The room was properly scrutinised by a female investigating officer. The trio is still at large.


No trace
The address written in the FIR which the police team checked is JH-37, Khirki Extension, Malviya Nagar. A case has been registered in connection with the incident and a probe is on. The victim had come to Delhi to meet her cousin. She is a resident of Kashmir and runs a travel agency there. Police sources said that they have not been able to crack the case yet and senior officials are monitoring it directly. "We have asked the deputy commissioner of police and other officers to look into the matter and give results soon," a senior police officer said, on condition of anonymity.

Don't take that ride!
Beware of taking a lift from unknown persons in the Capital, especially during late hours. A modus operandi, which is being extensively used by criminals in the Capital, involves offering people lift at nights, sometimes demanding nominal charges and at other times for free, and then rob the unsuspecting hitchhiker and/or sexually assault them. It happens usually near places like airports, railways stations and Metro stations.
>> Crime Branch of Delhi Police recently caught a gang who would first offer lift to people and then rob them. The gang was busted following a complaint filed by a railway employee. The accused had given him a lift, promising to drop him off at Bahadurgarh on payment of a nominal fare. As he sat inside their car, they beat him up and robbed him at knifepoint. After robbing the victim, they used to cover his face with a polythene bag, tied his hands, before dumping him at a secluded place to ensure that the victim could not note down the number of the car.

>> On May 25, Delhi Police arrested the driver of a pre-paid taxi for molesting an Australian woman after she boarded his vehicle from Indira Gandhi International Airport on Thursday. The incident took place a day after an Australian woman was molested by a tailor, who had offered her a lift in his car, in Mandir Marg area of Central Delhi. The 60-year-old woman came to IGI police station and filed a complaint after which the police took the action. The complainant had come from Australia in the morning via Singapore by a Jet Airways flight.

>> A drunken youth allegedly tried to molest a 25-year-old IGI Airport executive while she was waiting for her office cab in Dhaula Kuan on the night of February 5. Police officials said that Deepak, a resident of Sector 7 RK Puram, tried to hug and kiss the victim at around 1.00 am when she was waiting for her cab near Satya Niketan bus stand on Ring Road. Police officials near the spot heard her cries and rushed there and nabbed the accused.

Need more reasons?
Three incidents of rape and an attempt to rape with minor girls were reported on Wednesday. In the first incident, a 17-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped by her neighbour in Greater Kailash, south Delhi. Police said an FIR has been registered in this regard at Chittaranjan Park police station. The name of the accused was not disclosed. The victim, Priya (name changed), is a resident of Greater Kailash part II. Rape was confirmed after she was taken to AIIMS for check up. The second incident was reported from Malviya Nagar, where a youth, identified as Sansar Singh, a local resident, was arrested for raping a 17-year-old girl. "Police were informed about the incident on Wednesday. Singh has been arrested," said a police official. Meanwhile, an attempt to rape was reported from New Friends Colony, south-east Delhi. A police source said the victim is a 13-year-old girl. "The accused is also a juvenile. The victim was sleeping in her house when the accused tried to assault her. The father of the victim, however, came home, following which the accused fled. Police were informed and he was caught from a nearby area," said a police source. An FIR in this regard is yet to be registered. A 26-year-old baba was arrested for allegedly raping a teenager, who had ironically approached him for counselling regarding her repeated sexual abuse by her former employer. Police said Baba Wam Dev Ram alias Bam Dev, also known as Ramji Maharaj, was apprehended from Punjabi Bagh area of west Delhi on Tuesday. He originally hails from Heala Ranchi in Jharkhand. "He is also wanted in another gang rape case, registered at Rani Bagh police station and a 2006 kidnapping case, which happened in Simdega, Jharkhand," said a senior police officer. According to the officer, the 18-year-old victim approached the police in May, claiming she was raped by a baba. "She told us she was repeatedly raped by a man while working in Amritsar. In April, a woman brought her to Delhi and sent her to the baba for counselling. The baba was popular for giving counselling to tribal girls," said the officer. "On May 6, he came to her house when the woman was not there. He then raped her and threatened here of dire consequences, if she told anybody about it," said DCP (west) V Ranganathan. "During interrogation, the baba told us he has studied up to Class XII. He became very popular in Ranchi and came in contact with some people in Jharkhand, who ran a placement agency in Delhi. He then started bringing unemployed girls from Jharkhand to the Capital, nearly 6-7 years ago. He also opened an NGO, BB Tribal Welfare Society, in Rani Bagh and started counselling tribal girls. In the garb of help, he used to rape them," said Ranganathan.

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Monday, 1 August 2011

Stike against Custodial Killing

Syed Ali Shah Geelani
Via: Qaid-e-inquilab Syed Ali Geelani


Chairman Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called for a complete shut down in Kashmir on August 3 against the killing of Sopore youth in police custody. In a statement issued, Geelani described Nazim Rashid’s custodial killing as the worst form of state terrorism.
The killing of innocents in Sopore at the hands of unidentified gunmen, he said, has become a daily affair.
Mr. Geelani said that New Delhi and its stooges in Kashmir have created a martial law like situation. Pro-freedom youth are being hunted down and booked under PSA, enforcing silence of graveyard with the help of police and armed forces, which they term as peace. Mr. Geelani said that the pro freedom youth are being target arrested and subject o inhumane torture by police and armed forces.
Time and again it is coming into observation that unidentified gunman kill people and it appears that these are handiworks of agencies who want to instill fear among the people.
In that matter of Nazim Rashid Shala, the statement of his father Abdul Rashed Shala is of significance in which he had said that Nazim was present at the spot talking to Muhhamad Ashraf Dar about some business when unidentified gunmen had shot at Dar. Thus it is evident that the agencies arrested Nazim to wipe off the eyewitness of their crime.
He further said that oppression and tyranny is ruling the roost in other areas of valley and Muslim belt of Jammu region as well.
Army camps have been installed at various places and the honour of our mothers and sisters is not safe with Damhall Hanji Pora and Pattan episodes being the latest examples.
Mr. Geelani said that the leadership is being confined to their homes and is not allowed to meet people. Frontline leadership is being held under the draconian law of PSA and these so called democratic leaders are misleading the world opinion about Kashmir
Mr. Geelani said that thus we are not left with any other option but to observe a complete strike to express our sentiments to the world .
Mr. Geelani said that strike is the last weapon with our oppressed nation and is a method to express our grief and anger. We are not being allowed to hold peaceful protest rallies therefore we have no option left with us other than strike.
Mr Geelani made a fervent appeal to all sections of the society to observe complete strike on 3rd august Wednesday at all costs..