A minor girl was raped at gunpoint for nearly two months by five Union Territory (UT) policemen who were posted outside her school for the protection of students.
The accused, who were arrested and remanded in three-day police custody by a local court on Friday, threatened to kill her if she raked up the issue. The accused have also forced the minor to consume certain pills, probably contraceptives, all this while. The 16-year-old girl is the eldest of the four sisters who live with their family in penury in a village within the bounds of Chandigarh. The UT police on Friday issued orders to dismiss the accused constables – Akshay, Sunil, Jagtar, Himmat Singh and Anil Kumar – from service.
The girl, who tried to commit suicide, informed the police that the accused used to follow her to school and often make lewd comments and obscene gestures. After some time, the cops forcibly took her in their PCR van and gang-raped her.
The traumatised rape survivor skipped classes and preferred to jump off the rear boundary wall of the school to avoid the accused cops who were posted outside the school for the protection of children.
The girl worked as a part-time salesgirl after school hours in a local market. Her father is an alcoholic. Sources said the trouble for the girl started when one of the main accused, constable Akshay, came to her house to attend a complaint of domestic quarrel some months back. The constable took the mobile numbers of the family members, including the eldest sister’s. The policemen allegedly started stalking her and later raped her for weeks.
Unable to bear the torture, the victim confided in her sister and a cousin who then brought the matter to the notice of Chandigarh BJP councilor Saurabh Joshi. Joshi led a protest against the accused policemen on Thursday, which eventually led to their arrest.
Joshi told Deccan Herald, “The police acted in a lax manner. They took several hours to perform the medical examination.