Journalism of Courage
FOLLOWING IDENTIFICATION by the 21-year-old woman who has alleged she was raped by 40 men in a Morni guesthouse, the Panchkula police arrested seven of the alleged perpetrators. Among them were businessmen, a taxi driver, a salesman and a 55-year-old man.
The arrested men have been identified as Sahab Singh, Karan Sharma, Shadi Ram, Vikas, Manjeet, Ajay and Sukhwinder. While Sukhwinder Singh and Manjeet Singh are both residents of Shahzadpur in Ambala, Karan Sharma is a resident of Sector 9, Ambala, Vikas alias Vicky is a resident of Naraingarh. Ajay Kumar and Shadi Ram are also Ambala residents. All are between the age group of 25 years and 40 years except Shadi Ram who is in his fifties.
The men were rounded up and their photographs were shown to the woman who identified all of them. While Sahab Singh, a taxi driver of Raipurrani, was arrested on Saturday night, the others were arrested on Sunday evening.
Karan Sharma runs his own construction business in Ambala and was known to Sunny, the accused who is currently lodged in Burail Jail. Sharma is from a well-off family, officials said.
Read | Why wasn’t there any prompt action, minister Vij asks hospital
Sahab Singh’s job was just to ferry women to the Lovely guesthouse in Morni and drop them back. He got Rs 10,000 a month and was employed only two months ago. Sources said that Sahab Singh would also take women to a beauty saloon located at a distance of about five kilometres towards Raipurrani. Sahab Singh was produced in a local court which sent him to two-day police custody.
“The court has remanded Sahab Singh in two-day police custody. It is during the remand period that we will investigate all other accused,” Deputy Commissioner of Police R K Meena told Chandigarh Newsline.
Vikas is a salesman while Shadi Ram is a relative of Sunny.
The details of other accused are being verified by the police. They will be produced in the court on Monday.
Read | Case should be shifted back to Chandigarh Police, says victim
In the afternoon, the woman’s husband created a flutter by producing a Rs 50 note with a number written on it with a lipstick. He claimed it was the number of a policeman in Derabassi who had given the note with the number on it to his wife after raping her.
The police, however, traced the number to a man at Naraingarh, who is said to be absconding.
Over 100 women to march in black suits today
Up in arms against the inaction of the Haryana government in treating a rape victim’s complaint, more than 100 women from Congress will march on city roads. National president of All India Mahila Congress Sushmita Dev is likely to reach Panchkula on Monday morning and join the protest.
Senior vice-president of Haryana Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee Ranjeeta Mehta said, “As a mark of protest, we all will be wearing black suits. We will burn an effigy of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar as his government failed in acting promptly in a rape victim’s case while the Chandigarh Police did.”
Sumitra Chauhan, president of Haryana Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee, said that they would demand the resignation of Haryana CM and the march would start from the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Sector 1.
