Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 25

Notwithstanding the categorical denial by the Haryana Police, more witnesses have started speaking out on the mayhem at the Murthal highway in the wee hours of February 22 when armed goons reportedly molested several women commuters. The identity of these eyewitnesses is being withheld.

“The BMW car of someone known to me was set on fire on NH-1 and three women of his family were kidnapped. They returned home after seven hours, their clothes torn,” said a New Delhi-based businessman.

A man running a dhaba near Murthal claimed four women were kidnapped near his eatery while another was kidnapped near Badi village. “Petrified policemen told me that five women had been kidnapped but they could do little as their seniors, including the SHO, were themselves hiding in nearby fields,” said a plucky youth. He said women’s clothes were still strewn in the fields. He had information on women having been kidnapped elsewhere too, he said.

Read also: Women commuters ‘violated’ by highway goons

A team of the Akhil Bharatiya Janwadi Mahila Samiti (ADMSA) and the Sarv Karmchari Sangh Haryana led by its president, well-known social worker Raj Kumar Dahiya, visited Sonepat district today. “During our visit to various villages, we were told by residents that they had come to the aid of a woman, who was in tatters, and her two terrified children. They also said they had given clothes to some women raped by eight men.”

The ADMSA has demanded a high-level inquiry. “Villagers admit that several women were molested but they are afraid to say so before the police for fear of harassment. They are also afraid they may be targeted by the goons,” said Dahiya.

Some villagers said a couple was stranded at the Murthal highway. “The man was robbed and his wife raped by the hooligans,” said a resident who did not want to be identified.

Another youth said some goons took the stranded commuters to secluded areas on the pretext of helping them find an alternative route. They then looted the men and allegedly molested women.

Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, terming the incident shameful, today asked the Haryana DGP and Chief Secretary to file reports.

(Inputs by Naveen S Garewal, Parveen Arora and Parvesh Sharma)