Ahead of Yogi's visit, rape victim forcibly discharged

A seven-year-old gang-rape victim was reportedly discharged from a government hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad town barely a day before Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s visit to the city on Sunday.

The victim’s mother said she was forced to take the girl home by doctors at Women’s Hospital, saying she was doing well. “The doctors had earlier told me that it would take several days for my daughter to get better, and that she would have to be in hospital for some more days,” the mother said.

She said two police officers escorted her and the victim home on Saturday. According to sources, the minor, a resident of Yamuna Paar area, had been raped by four men a week ago, after she was taken to a secluded place a few hundred metres away from her home. The preparators have reportedly been arrested.

The mother found the victim a little after the incident, bleeding profusely. She was admitted to hospital in a critical condition.

The medical examination had confirmed the rape. It also revealed that the victim had suffered serious injuries.
Sources said as there was a possibility that Adityanath, on his trip to Allahabad on Sunday, may visit the hospital and meet the victim and her family, the authorities had discharged her.

The hospital authorities, however, denied the allegations and said the victim was discharged after her condition improved.

Recently, state government officials, apparently aiming to impress Adityanath, had distributed soaps, shampoos and perfumes among members of the Mushar (Dalit) community in Kushinagar district, in a bid to make them more ‘presentable’ to the chief minister.