Bulandshahr: While the brutal gang-rape of a woman and her teenager daughter has shaken the entire nation, this is not the first case that has happened near the bypass on National Highway- 91.
A Times of India report quoting some local villagers said that just 12 days ago a group of men had "brought a woman in a tempo and gang-raped her late into the night".
"This is not the first time such a case has happened ", claimed residents of Dostpur village where a gang of robbers raped a 35-year-old Noida woman and her teenage daughter after waylaying their car on Friday night.
The villagers further claimed that crime is rampant on this stretch of the NH as it is deserted with no street lights or police picket.
"We got the news and immediately reached the spot after which the men fled. The woman was distraught, dishevelled. We stopped a police vehicle passing by and handed over to them a mobile phone and some clothes that the men had left behind. The police pocketed the phone and left. They later told the woman to come to the police station. We don't know what happened to her after that. She was in a bad shape and needed help from the police," Devraj Thakur, former pradhan of the village, was quoted as saying.
Another villager claimed that rapes happen here every few months but everyone is not able to muster the courage to file a report with the police. Even police don't file cases even as the dangerous stretch has become a safe haven for criminals who often target travellers here.
The Dostpur villagers lament that had the police been vigilant in its patrol, the crime could have been averted.
Kuldeep Sharma, another resident of the village, added, "All this started after the highway came into existence 18 months ago. Rapes occur occasionally but incidents of loot and dacoity are becoming commonplace here."
DIG (Meerut range) Lakshmi Singh, however, brushed aside these claims.
"This is at best the rumour mill at work. We do admit there have been a few lapses. We are doing everything in our means to bring the culprits to justice.''
Report also quoted police sources saying that ''two similar incidents" had occurred in the district on May 7 and May 12 this year.
The modus operandi in both the case was same - something was thrown at the vehicle to stop it, the occupants led out at gunpoint and then robbed and assaulted.
