Three women constables of the Uttar Pradesh Police were suspended on Friday for taking selfies with a gang-rape and acid attack victim while she was undergoing treatment at a hospital.
The 45-year-old woman, who worked at a coffee shop managed exclusively by acid-attack survivors, had been gang-raped and attacked with acid at Unchahar in 2009. A case was registered, but the culprits remain at large. She had acid thrown at her again in 2013.
“There was some dispute over a property between the family of the victim and the culprits,” a police officer said.
On Thursday, the woman was returning to Lucknow by the Ganga-Gomti Express when some youths forced her to drink acid, even as other passengers remained mute spectators. She lodged a report with the Government Railway Police (GRP) at the Lucknow station. A GRP constable has been suspended for dereliction of duty.
She was then taken to the King George’s Medical University for treatment where three women constables, deployed to protect her, took selfies with the victim lying in the hospital
bed.
A Satish Ganesh, IG (Lucknow Zone), termed the three constables “insensitive” and promised action. They were suspended and a probe has been ordered.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and state Minister for Women and Child Welfare Reeta Bahuguna Joshi visited the hospital and met the victim and her family.
Adityanath announced an assistance of Rs 1 lakh to the victim. The police claimed to have arrested the two accused.
Published 24 March 2017, 14:40 IST