Earlier, the Samajwadi Party-led government in Uttar Pradesh faced flak because of reported police inaction. The woman and her 15-year-old daughter were gangraped barely 100 metres from a police post. However, the police allegedly took hours to reach the spot and later said that their helpline number, 100, does not work.
Till now, three accused have been arrested and sent to 14-day judicial custody. The police have also zeroed in on the main accused and gang leader Saleem Bawariya, but have not yet arrested him and the other accused. Meerut Deputy Inspector General Lakshmi Singh said that a case has been registered against the unidentified accused men under Sections 376 D (gangrape), 397 (robbery or dacoity with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) and 395 (punishment for dacoity).
On Thursday, Congress chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh Sheila Dikshit met the survivors and even offered the teenager admission to a school of her choice. Yadav, on the other hand, accused the Opposition parties of "tutoring the survivors in an endeavour to serve their political motives." The state is scheduled to have its elections next year.
Earlier, reports said that videos of gangrapes have gone viral recently, and have been sold in local shops for between Rs 50-150. Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court directed a petitioner in the gangrape case to file details regarding alleged irregularities in the police investigation by Friday.
The incident took place on July 29 midnight when the family was travelling to Shahjahanpur to attend a relative's funeral and had set off from Sector 68. The men allegedly surrounded their car and then forced all of them into a field nearby. There, they assaulted the woman and the 15-year-old girl.
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