A day after an eight-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to expedite the investigation in the alleged rape of a 19-year-old that happened in Shimla on Sunday, the police here said on Wednesday that while the complainant had claimed that she was kidnapped and raped in a car, no such proof of kidnapping was found in the police investigation. Based on a complaint by the girl, an FIR was filed in the Dhalli police station on Monday under Sections 354 A (sexual harassment), 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 366 (kidnapping) of the IPC. In the statement to the police, the girl had said that she was kidnapped in Shimla’s Bhattakufar area, was allegedly raped and left on the road in the area on Sunday night. However, in a statement to the media, the police on Wednesday mentioned that in the 1.5-km area from Shiv Mandir to Hill Grove Public School in Bhattakufar where the complainant had said that she was kidnapped, the CCTV footages checked by the police “show that the victim is walking alone from Shiv Mandir to Hill Grove School”. “So far, no evidence of the victim having been kidnapped in a car near Shiv Mandir has been found,” the statement said. While the girl has mentioned to the police that she was raped by three unknown persons, three days after the alleged incident, no arrests had been made in the case. The girl had told the police that she had visited the Lakkar Bazar police post at around 6 pm on Sunday to ask how she could report an incident of molestation. The police, however, asked her to report the incident in the Dhalli police station and gave her the “Gudiya helpline” number to report the incident. She was allegedly raped on the same night and a magisterial probe was ordered on Tuesday to ascertain whether it was true that the police at Lakkar Bazar police post did not help her. The police statement issued on Wednesday said that the magisterial inquiry was underway and that the report of the inquiry was awaited. “Action will be taken as per rules” once the enquiry report is received, the statement said.
