#India Police insensitivity- Gangraped migrant women approach Delhi Police for justice

Bhiwani, April 28
The Haryana Police’s sensitivity towards crimes against women has once again come under scanner, after two migrant Dalit women, who were allegedly gang-raped and paraded naked by their employer at a brick kiln in Dhanana village of Bhiwani district, had to approach the Delhi Police through an NGO headed by Swami Agnivesh for getting justice.

The victims, a 33-year-old woman and her 22-year-old sister-in-law, who were being kept as bonded labourers in the brick kiln, had approached the Bhiwani police last Saturday with a request for their release as bonded labourers, but the police allegedly turned a deaf ear to their complaint.

A policeman allegedly told the women that they deserved this treatment and “something bigger could happen to them by the evening.”

On the same night, they were allegedly gang-raped by the brick kiln owner and two others.

The women, who belong to Budelkhand, alleged in their complaint to the Delhi Police that they were gang-raped by three men, including the brick kiln owner for two days.

“My employer used to beat me with sticks and torture me regularly when I used to ask for wages. He and two of his brothers even forced me to parade naked. They fractured my fingers and bruised my body. And this has been happening for the past six months,” one of the victims alleged.

Bandhua Mukti Morcha, an NGO to help bonded labour and headed by Swami Agnivesh, helped the women approach the Delhi Police and narrated their tale of woes.

The Delhi Police registered an FIR under Section 376-D of the IPC on the complaint of the women and informed the Bhiwani police last night.

Bhiwani Superintendent of Police (SP) Simardeep Singh said the victims were being brought to Bhiwani for recording their statements.

He said the police would incorporate relevant sections of the IPC in the FIR after recording the statements of the victims.

Simardeep Singh said the police would verify the allegations against the local police and would take action if anyone was found guilty.