The abduction and gangrape of a 17-year-old schoolgirl in Surat on Friday took a strange twist on Saturday with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) calling for a bandh in the city on Monday. VHP state chief Dilip Trivedi said the bandh has been called to create awareness among parents and in the society about how women are unsafe,and to take all corrective actions. He said the VHP had no plans to give the issue communal overtones,adding that they would have called a similar bandh even if the victim was a Muslim. Earlier on Saturday,a mob led by workers of the Vishwa Hindu Sewa Samiti,a saffron outfit,converged at the New Civil Hospital here and attacked two of the three accused whom the cops had taken there for a medical examination. The mob hit and kicked the youths until the team of cops managed to get reinforcements. It was only after the cops threatened to open fire that the mob dispersed. As the youths were taken away and locked inside a hospital room,the irate mob damaged the hospital premises,while small groups roamed outside waiting for the cops to bring the trio out again. The police,however,managed to take away the three safely. The police had arrested Shahid Saiyed,Tarik Saiyed and Abubakar Shaikh,all residents of Bhagatalo in Surat,on charges of abducting and raping a schoolgirl and capturing the act on mobile phones. Medical examination of the victim had confirmed rape. Deputy Commissioner of Police Subhash Trivedi,meanwhile,urged the people to keep their faith in the judiciary. I have talked to both the accused and they have not suffered severe injuries in the attack, he said.
