Cops to rely on boy of 8 in Haryana widows' lynching case

A crowd of at least 200 villagers, including dozens of women, watched two youths beating two widows to death with sticks and sharp-edged weapons at Ranila, but nobody stopped the attack or has stepped forward as witness in the case. Police will now rely on the statement of eight-year-old Nakul, son of a lynched widow, to conduct the trial, an official said.

Besides, police are yet to trace the sharp-edged weapons the young attackers used in the brutal Sunday night killing though over four days have passed since the crime rocked Haryana.   "We do not have any witness in this case as no villager is ready to record his/her statement," Japan Singh, investigation officer of the case, told IANS.

"But we are gathering the physical evidence against the accused so that exemplary punishment is given to them," he added. "We would also record the statement of an eight-year-old boy, who was present on the spot, to build our case," Singh said.

"So far, we have recovered some sticks but we are conducting raids to find the sharp-edged weapons used in the crime. Recovery of weapons is very necessary to make our case strong," he added.

Police Monday arrested Naresh, 23, a convicted rapist who was out on bail, and his 22-year-old cousin Subhash for brutally beating his own aunt Shakuntala, 40, and another widow Suman, 35, to death in the name of family honour.

Naresh was convicted of raping a girl, who was also the resident of Ranila village, by a local court here in 2010. However, he challenged the court's verdict in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Chandigarh and was granted bail.  Naresh was, however, unrepentent of the killing of the two widows. Said Ashwin, Bhiwani's superintendent of police: "We can also record the statement of the panch of the village, who is the complainant, as a witness. We are making every possible effort to assure severe punishment to the two accused."