Mumbai gang-rape victim’s mother says daughter was inconsolable

Zee Media Bureau

Mumbai: The Mumbai gang-rape victim’s mother has said that her daughter cried inconsolably on the fateful night when she had called her over the mobile phone. According to the statement of the girl`s mother, at around 7:30 pm on the fateful day (August 22), she called her daughter on her mobile phone. The mother in her statement said that her daughter who worked as a photojournalist was continuously crying over the phone, and said – “Mummy I am going to Jaslok hospital please come to Jaslok hospital”. The statement is part of the charge sheet which Mumbai police filed on Thursday in the photojournalist`s rape case against the five accused. The crime took place at the deserted premises of Shakti Mills in central Mumbai. Narrating the incident the aggrieved mother further informed that when she went to the hospital’s casualty room she saw her daughter crying. "When I asked her what happened (the survivor) said that she has been forcefully raped by five persons," the mother’s statement adds. When the mother asked about the identity of the accused, the girl said, "Mummy I don`t know their names I know only their description." In less than four weeks after the brutal gang rape of a woman photo-journalist in an abandoned mill compound, the Mumbai police on Thursday filed the formal set of charges against all the five suspects. The charge sheet, running into almost 600 pages, was filed separately for four accused in a metropolitan court and the report on charges against a minor delinquent was given to a juvenile court. The accused are: Salim Ansari, Mohammed Kasim Hafiz Shaikh alias Kasim Bengali, Siraj Rehman Khan, Vijay Jadhav and one minor, who cannot be named for legal reasons. On Aug 22, the 22-year-old woman was raped by the gang of five in the deserted Shakti Mills compound near Mahalaxmi in south Mumbai, police said. The accused have been charged under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 376(d) for gang rape, 337 for unnatural offence, 120(b) for criminal conspiracy, 34 for common intention and 201 for destruction of evidence.