SIT reopens gangrape case in Muzaffarnagar after SC directive

According to SIT officials, a final report was filed by the SIT on the basis of the victim’s earlier statement where she had turned hostile. The case has been reopened on the directive of the Supreme Court, which had ordered that statement of victims in all gangrape cases in Phugana village be recorded again before a woman magistrate, the sources said.

Five persons are accused of allegedly gangraping a 30-year-old woman in Phugana village during communal riots in Muzaffaranagar and its adjoining districts last year.

The SIT officials added that the victim had admitted that she had given the first statement under pressure and that the accused men had threatened her of dire consequences if she admitted of being raped.

The victim’s family was displaced from Phugana and rehabilitated in Loee village in the district.

Police had registered six separate gangrape cases against 27 people in Phugana village in September last year.

The SIT had found 22 persons involved in five cases. Two accused have been arrested by the police.

However, 20 are still at large.