Murthal gang-rape case: DIG Haryana Police meets eyewitness, records statement

Women commuters were allegedly pulled out of their cars during the recent Jat agitation and mass gang-rapes took place at Murthal in Haryana's Sonipat district.

Murthal: Haryana Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG)​ Rajshree Singh on Sunday night met an eyewitness relating to a recent incident of an alleged mass gang-rape which took place here in Sonipath district on the intervening night of 22-23 February, at a time when the entire Delhi-NCR was paralysed due to the Jat quota stir.

The development comes shortly after Haryana government released an interim assistance of Rs 1.12 crore to those whose properties were damaged in agitation. 

In a separate incident, most likely a domestic violence case, a woman today lodged a complaint of gang-rape against her brother-in-law and six others at the Murthal police station in Haryana .

Following the complaint, the Haryana Police registered an FIR against the seven persons, however, no arrest has been made so far.

Three truck drivers had yesterday claimed that they witnessed women being dragged and molested by Jat agitators in Murthal, even as a team of women police officers visited the site of the alleged crime.

Speaking to mediapersons, the three men Sukhwinder Singh, Niranjan and Naresh Kumar claimed that the agitators torched their trucks in Murthal, over 50 km from Delhi, and assaulted them following which they hid in the bushes to save themselves.

They also alleged that they saw the attackers "dragging women out of vehicles, tearing their clothers and molesting them" before taking the victims towards the fields.

Singh further alleged that "policemen in plain clothes" were putting pressure on them to remain silent about the incident.

The state police had on Friday announced the formation of an all-women inquiry committee to look into the matter.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday took suo moto notice of media reports that some women, who were commuting on the Delhi-Ambala highway (NH-1), were stripped and raped by rioters during the violent Jat agitation for job quota.

(With Agency inputs)