Two college students from Punjab were gang-raped by six men while on their way from Gurdaspur to Jammu to join college.
Two college students from Punjab were gang-raped by six men while on their way from Gurdaspur to Jammu to join college.
The incident happened in Birpur area of Jammu on Tuesday evening. The police have registered a case under Section 364/376 of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) and arrested three people. Hunt is on for the others.
The two girls were accompanied by a driver and his accomplice. Since it was late, the girls asked the driver to drop them near a hotel, as they would not be allowed entry into their hostel at that hour.
“They (driver and his associate) told the girls it would not be safe for them to stay at the hotel. On the other hand, if the girls wished they could stay with their uncle who stayed nearby, they said. On this pretext, they took the girls to an isolated place at Birpur and raped them,” Bari Brahamana sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Manish Anand said.
That was not to be the end of their ordeal. Six locals who were passing by in a car and motorcycle got suspicious on finding the vehicle parked at a secluded place. But instead of helping them, they bundled the girls into their car and fled.
“One of the girls managed to escape. Four of the six men raped the other girl. After the rape, the men drove through the city all night with the girl,” Anand said.
They dumped her at the Jammu railway station on Wednesday morning. The girls reported the matter to the college principal, who approached the police and got the case registered.
“We immediately swung into action and arrested three people — two locals and a Gurdaspur resident who was accompanying the girl. We have identified the other accused and they will be arrested soon.
“We have seized one car and efforts are on to trace the other car and two motorcycles,” Anand said.
Of the eight accused, six have been charged with rape and two with kidnapping. The girls were examined medically, and handed over to their guardians after their statements were recorded.
Nearly 250 rape cases were registered in the state in 2006 and around 2,521 cases of different crimes against women were registered in Jammu and Kashmir in 2007.
“We need tougher laws to deal with such crimes. There is also a need for more awareness so that such incidents do not recur,” Jammu & Kashmir State Commission of Women (SCW) secretary Hafiza Muzaffar said.