GURUSAR SUDHAR (Ludhiana), NOV 19: A case of alleged gang-rape of a local Class XII student and harassment of the victim, allegedly at the behest of a senior Akali leader and a close confidant of Parkash Singh Badal has come to light. The victim and her family has alleged that Jagdev Singh Talwandi, a senior Akali leader, is trying to hush up the matter, as one of the accused, Maninder Singh is said to be close to his family.However, police officials and Talwandi family have refuted the charges. Jagjit Singh, PSIEC chairman and son of Talwandi, said: ``Our family is in no way involved. The day we heard of this, we strongly condemned the incident and assured full help to victim's family. The case is being politicised. If our family was involved in any way, we wouldn't have met DIG (Ludhiana Range) to seek immediate suspension of the police officer playing a partisan role, or asked him to conduct an impartial inquiry.''The girl was allegedly abducted by two unidentified men on November 10, while returningfrom college. The victim said: ``They (two men) came in a Maruti car and forcibly picked me up from a link road near the local church and gagged me. Later, at nearby Ghuman Chowk, Maninder joined them and took me to Ludhiana, where I was drugged and gang-raped through the night. They kept me there for one night. Next morning, they took me to some place in village Ahmedgarh, where I was repeatedly gang-raped by the two till November 13 morning, when I managed to escape.'' The victim stated that when the duo was taking her to some other place, she managed to escape after opening the car lock while her abductors were in a dhaba. She boarded a bus and reached Shahbazprua village near Raikot, where she asked an old man for help. He took her to the village sarpanch, who called the police and her parents.The victim's family further alleged that though their daughter was recovered by the police on the same date, the police deliberately did not register any case till November 16. Chanan Singh, victim'sfather said: ``They kept us at Sudhar Police Station for 22 hours without registering any case and compelled us not to name Maninder in the FIR. In the presence of a local Akali jathedar, a close friend of Talwandi family, they also beat up my daughter. But when we did not listen, they registered the case on November 16.''Maninder's uncle, however, denied the allegations.When contacted, the SHO was not available for comment, but ASI Sukhdev Singh said: ``The police did not delay registration of the case, it was the girl's father who insisted that no case be filed, as it would earn a bad name for their family.''Denying that any police officer had either beaten them up or tried to persuade them to compromise, he said, when they approached us again on November 16, we registered their complaint.
