Gujarat: Fearing attacks, minor rape victim’s family flees village

The accused, Naresh alias Mahesh Solanki, son of Jayanti Solanki, is of the same caste as the girl, and is also a distant relative of the minor. He claims it was a “mutual relationship”. Eight persons have been arrested in the case.
The girl and her extended family of 31 members — five minor siblings, parents, grandparents, four uncles and aunts and 11 cousins, all of them minor — fled their homes in Wankner taluka of Morbi on the night of December 29.

They have since been camping beside National Highway 27, some 30 km away. “The family members of the accused have threatened to murder the victim and kidnap two more of our daughters if we do not agree to a compromise. Therefore, we left our homes in the dead of night,” said the victim’s grandfather.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Morbi Collector I K Patel said he was not aware of the migration.”But I shall ask the local subdivisional magistrate and the police to inquire into the matter,” he said.

After the family complained of threats from relatives of the accused, the police took nine of them into preventive custody on January 1. They all were released the same day.

Morbi SP Jaypalsinh Rathore said, “If they approach us, we will provide protection. But they have not approached the local police.”