Surat gangrape: mob beats accused

The police had arrested Shahid Saiyed,Tarik Saiyed and Abubakar Shaikh,all residents of Bhagatalo area of Surat on Friday itself on charges of kidnapping and raping the schoolgirl and capturing the act on mobile phone.

The mob,which included women,hit and kicked two of the accused as soon as the police brought them out of the hospital. The five policemen accompanying them had to call for reinforcements. It was only after the police threatened to open fire that the mob dispersed,while the three youths were taken away and locked inside a hospital room to keep the attackers at bay.

The irate mob later damaged the hospital premises,while a small group roamed outside,waiting for the police to bring out the youths again. The police finally managed to take the three away safely.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Subhash Trivedi made a plea to the people to keep their faith in the judiciary. “I have spoken to the two accused and they have said that they have not incurred severe injuries in the attack,” he told Newsline.

Dr M K Wadhel,the Medical Superintendent of New Civil Hospital said the accused were brought to him after the mob attack. “They did not complain of severe injuries,” he said.

Meanwhile,the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has called for a citywide bandh on Monday to protest against the gangrape.

VHP state president Dilip Trivedi told Newsline that the bandh was called “to create awareness among the parents and in society about how unsafe the women are,as also to take corrective action”.

He added that the VHP has no plans to give a communal overtone to the issue,adding that they had called for bandhs even where the rapists were Hindus and the girl was a Muslim.

Local VHP leaders later attempted to submit a memorandum to the city police commissioner,who was,however not available to receive it.

Later in the day,however,the VHP issued a press release,blaming the minority community for the incident,quite contrary to claims by Dilip Trivedi earlier that they will not give a communal twist to the case.

The statement said,“The government should take care that no attempt is made to hush up the case.”

The release said that there was a time when Gujarat could say with pride that a girl was safe alone even at 1 pm at night on a public road,but now criminals have a free run in the state.

Saffron outfits such as Durga Vahini and Bajrang Dal will now start a “warning campaign” in all colleges shortly,to expose “eve teasing”,it added.

Meanwhile,the joint memorandum to the Surat Police Commissioner drawn up by the VHP,Shiv Sena,parents association and other voluntary bodies called for exemplary punishment to the culprits,and a plea to “punish such elements in public”.

It also demanded that the fathers of two of the accused,who are police officers,should be suspended from service forthwith.

“In Jodhpur in Rajasthan,in the case of a rape of a foreign woman,the honourable court had punished the guilty in 15 days. Similarly,in this case,there is a public demand that the culprits be punished in one month and that they be hanged,” the memorandum added.

The memorandum further demanded that the trial in this case be conducted in a fast-track court and a special public prosecutor be appointed for the same.

Cops demand death sentence for their sons if found guilty

EVEN as a mob attacked the three alleged rapists,the shell-shocked parents of two of the accused,both policemen,asked for their children to be hanged if found guilty.

“We have full faith in the police investigations and also in the judiciary. If our children are found guilty,they should be hanged to death or should be strictly punished,” said Nizamuddin Saiyed and Kutubuddin Saiyed,fathers of accused Shahid and Tarik.

Nizamuddin added: “We had always remained loyal to the law and no member of our family had ever had a case charged against them in the past.”

Nizamuddin and Kutubuddin are brothers and Shahid and Tarik are first cousins.

Kutubuddin is posted as head constable at the Mahidharpura police station in Surat. Besides their fathers,Shahid and Tarik have all their uncles in the state police force.

Zahiruddin Saiyed and Shamsuddin Saiyed,two paternal uncles of the cousins,are inspectors in Palanpur and head constable with the Surat Crime Branch,respectively. Even the late grandfather of Shahid and Tarik was a policeman.

The third accused,Abubakar Saiyed is unrelated to Shahid and Tarik. He is the son of a mobile phone businessman.