New twist in Meerut case: Woman ‘gangraped’ a month earlier also

Sanaullah, a Muslim cleric and a resident of Sarawa, is on the run. He allegedly kidnapped her, forced her to convert and got her raped. Police have arrested the victim’s childhood friend Nishat for allegedly luring her to Islam, Sanaullah’s wife Samar Jahan for being party to the kidnapping and forced conversion and also the village pradhan Nawab for allegedly raping her and forcing her to convert to Islam.

The victim’s statement to doctors adds a new twist to the probe, said DIG, Meerut range, K Satyanarayan. More so because, police said, there is evidence to show that the woman spent time with Sanaullah and Nishat between June 29 and told them about her predicament. For one, her father says he is unaware of this statement.

When contacted, he told The Indian Express: “I do not know what statement my daughter gave to the doctors and to police. I was asked to leave the room because they said she would not be able to give a statement in front of me. She never told us anything about the assault on June 29. Had she told us we would have created a ruckus and confronted Sanaullah even before going to the police. We would not have let her out. She was at home but we did not come to know about any physical discomfort either. Her friend Nishat used to tell her to convert and then Sanaullah and Pradhan kidnapped, raped and converted her on July 23.”

Police, however, said they are investigating her statement to the doctors.  “She was taken to a field and gangraped on June 29. When she started facing physical discomfort and bleeding from July 8 she shared it with her friend Nishat who then took her to Sanaullah. He gave her some medicines but that did not help. Then she went with Sanaullah and his wife to the clinic where she was operated upon for ectopic pregnancy,” Satyanarayan said.

In his complaint to the police on August 3, her father had said that she was first kidnapped by the village pradhan and three other people on July 23, gangraped and forced to convert in a madrasa in Hapur. The woman, in her statement to the police the same day, said she was kidnapped for a second time on July 30 and taken to a Muzaffarnagar madrasa where she was kept confined for several days before escaping.