12 men named in FIR are said to be relatives of BSP leader

A 22-year-old girl from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, who was allegedly gang-raped and kept in confinement for more than two years, has now knocked on the door of the National Commission for Women in Delhi for justice. She was allegedly abducted in 2011 and repeatedly raped by about a dozen men while she was in confinement, until she managed to run away from the clutches of the kidnappers early this year.

She narrated her ordeal to her uncle after returning home. A case was registered in this regard in February this year at the Manjhola police station in Morabadad and the 12 men, said to be relatives of Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mukad Ali, president of the party’s Western U.P. wing, were named in the FIR. However, four months after the FIR, no arrests have been made.

Six other people have also been named in the FIR for helping the accused.

The victim’s relatives insisted that the U.P. Police were deliberately not making any arrests as the accused were relatives of a politician. “What can you expect from the police of a State where a senior leader calls rape just a ‘mistake’,” said the girl’s uncle.

Narrating her ordeal, the victim told The Hindu: “I was returning home from numaish (local fair) with my father when some men sitting in a car pulled me and my father inside the vehicle. They locked me up in a house nearby and kept my father in another room inside the house. All the men used to take chances to rape me. They kept doing it for two years. I got pregnant and then one of them, whom I later identified as Sahil, took me to a local clinic for an abortion.”

“It was later that I got to know that the house belonged to Sahil and he used to take money from his friends for raping me. He was forcing me into prostitution and had further plans to sell me off. One day I overheard him and that’s when I decided to escape,” the victim said.

“In February this year, one day Sahil left the house door open and I got a chance to contact the neighbours. I told them my ordeal and they helped me and my father run away. We came back to my house and narrated the incident to my uncle, who later approached the police to register a case,” she added.

The relatives of the victim met NCW chairperson Mamta Sharma and she assured them of action. “We met Ms. Sharma and she told us that she has formed a three-member committee to look into the matter. The members will visit the incident spot on Friday to take a status report from the police. We are now hopeful of some action,” said the victim’s uncle.