The woman had gone to a wheat field to cut grass, when the accused allegedly attacked her and gagged her, before committing the heinous crime, according to a police complaint lodged by her family members late on Sunday evening.
“The survivor was cutting grass in the wheat field, around half a kilometre away from her house, when the villager grabbed her from behind. When she tried to free herself, he gagged her, before raping her. He also assaulted her, leaving several injury marks on her body. The accused even attempted to gouge out her eyes. Believing she was dead after she lost consciousness, he fled the scene,” read the complaint, adding there were two more people on the spot, but didn’t participate in the rape.
“Later, when the woman regained consciousness on March 15 noon, 19 hours after the crime, and told her family about the incident, they went to the accused’s house to confront him, but his brother and father used casteist slurs and drove them away. Following this, a written complaint was filed at the local police station,” said the FIR, as stated by the complainant.
Based on the complaint the police have registered a case under the relevant sections of BNS and the SC/ST Act against seven people — the prime accused, four of his family members and two other people present on the spot at the time of the crime. One of the two people, who was there with the prime accused in the field, has been arrested, said the local station house officer (SHO). “Raids are being conducted to arrest the main accused, his other accomplice and four of his family members, named in the FIR,” he said.
The SHO added that the survivor’s daughter-in-law mentioned in the complaint that on the day of Holi, while she was looking for her mother-in-law, a few village women informed her that the elderly woman was lying unconscious in the wheat field. She then went to the spot, brought her home with the assistance of the local residents and got her treated by a local doctor.
“The victim’s family claimed that it was only around March 15 noon, 19 hours after the incident, that the elderly woman regained consciousness and recounted the entire ordeal,” the SHO said.
Courtesy : Times of India
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