Srinagar: The rape controversy took a new
turn when the husband and mother-in-law of the woman claimed
before police that she suffered from mentally illness and was
at her home home in South Kashmir on the day she claimed she
was sexually abused.
The statement of the family members of Ruqaya, 32, goes
contrary to her claim that she was picked up by two men in
uniform on July 19 and allegedly gang-raped for two days
before being let off on July 21.
In her statement to the Special Investigation Team
(SIT) yesterday, Amina Bi, mother-in-law of the alleged
victim, said that her daughter-in-law went missing on the
morning of July 20 and not evening of July 19.
"She (Ruqaya) had gone to a spring at 7.00 a.m on
Wednesday (July 20) and did not return till late in the
evening. We sent people in different directions but could not
find her. She returned home the next day," Amina told the SIT
officials.
Amina said she asked her daughter-in-law about her
overnight absence but she did not say anything. "She started
beating her chest and I thought she is having some pain. We
took her to Manzgam hospital where she told the doctor that
she had been raped," the woman said.
Ruqaya had alleged that she was kidnapped by two men in
uniform on the evening of July 19 and held hostage for two
nights during which she was raped in a "Dhok" at Manzgam, 80
kms from here.
PTI
