Journalists and NGO workers crowded to meet the 35-year-old mother and the 14-year-old daughter who were raped on the Delhi-Kanpur highway near Bulandshahr.

The men of the family guarded the door as journalists, neighbours and NGO workers gathered to meet the 35-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter who were dragged out of their car and gangraped on the Delhi-Kanpur highway near Bulandshahr on July 29.

The girl's father and uncle were reluctant to allow the press to meet the mother, wary of the questions she would be asked.

Reporters were finally allowed inside the room where the woman sat with her face covered, though tears sparkled through the red dupatta.



OF GRIEF AND ANGER

"I don't expect anything from politicians or the government. I worry for the future of my daughter who is not keeping well," said the 35-year-old, when asked about her demands. Grief soon turned into anger when she said she wished "to punish the perpetrators with her own hands".

The girl who studies in class IX barely spoke. Her father said she has not been talking much and barely eats. Two female counsellors from an NGO have been speaking to her, but the teenager hasn't said anything about the incident.

Local BSP MLA Amar Pal Sharma visited the family and explained the delay by saying he was on the Amaranth pilgrimage. "If Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan thinks this a political conspiracy, then he should begin hatching one from his home," he said, calling Akhilesh Yadav's government "Gunda Raj".

The woman said politicisation of the incident hurts her and all she seeks is justice. "It hurts when you hear insensitive remarks. I don't expect any monetary help or legal aid but all perpetrators should be brought to justice," she said, her voice trembling.

Three accused have been sent to judicial custody and the rest are still absconding. Sources told India Today TV that the weapon used to stop the car and the guns used to hold the family members are missing.



IF ONLY POLICE RESPONDED ON TIME

Questions have been raised about the investigation, including the antecedents of the perpetrators, why their phones weren't traced, why cops did not seek custody of the accused in court to extract information and if their DNA samples have been collected.

"Criminals don't necessarily carry mobiles along while executing a crime," Bulandshahr SSP Anees Ansari said, without explaining if police had examined this.

"We had the victim identify the arrested trio. What more proof do we need?"

Amid the chaos, the mother looked blankly in front of her and said, "I wish the police would have responded on time; This would have never happened."

(With inputs from Anindya Banerjee in Bulandshahr)

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