Murthal gang-rapes: Eye-witness gets threat call

The Haryana Police had recently told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that gang-rape had been added to the FIR in the case..

Chandigarh: One eye-witness of the attack on women during Jat stir at Murthal in Sonepat has claimed that he was threatened for “speaking too much against Jats.”

Bobby Joshi said that he received a call saying 'you're speaking too much against Jats, 'hum tumhe dekh lenge'.

“I'm not scared of any threat. Another lady also saw everything that happened that day,” he said, adding that he has informed top Haryana police officials about the threat call.

Joshi said that he had himself seen women being beaten and manhandled by protesters.

“Women were thrashed and their clothes were torn off, I saved two women were from Ludhiana,” he said.

On April 12, the Haryana police - after rejecting reports of gang-rapes at Murthal during the Jat stir for reservation, - the Haryana Police took a U-turn on the matter and has told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the section on gang-rape had been added to the FIR in the case.

The move comes after the police received two anonymous letters from women stating that they had been sexually assaulted.

The police told the court that the first letter was forwarded by the Faridabad Commissioner of Police to the Superintendent of Police, Sonipat, on March 1 who, in turn, sent it to the Special Group of Officers on March 2.

The second letter, from a non-resident Indian woman, was forwarded to the police by a local news channel.

"Since the content of both communications reveals the commission of offence under Section 376D of the Indian Penal Code, the relevant Section has been added and further investigation will be conducted on these communications to verify the content," said the Haryana Police affidavit to the court on April 11.

The first letter, posted from Mathura Road, Faridabad, states that the victim, a student, was returning home with her father from the college hostel when she was allegedly gang-raped.

The police told the court that the Deputy Commissioners of districts falling on the National Highway-1, including Sonipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Yamuna Nagar and Ambala, had been requested to provide the list of colleges/technical institutes with girls hostels so that they could identify the victim.

The letter from the NRI, forwarded to the police by the news channel, had gone viral on a social networking website.

The Cyber Cell, Sonipat, has been directed to contact the news channel and find out the source of the letter. The victim, in her letter, said she had reached the New Delhi airport from Australia on February 21 and was travelling on National Highway-1 near Murthal where she was allegedly gang-raped.

The complainant has mentioned the names of her relatives who had arrived with her. The police have made a request to Foreigner Regional Registration Officer, Delhi, seeking help in identifying the victim.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken suo motu notice of media reports that some women travelling on the Delhi-Ambala Highway were allegedly gang-raped by rioters during the Jat agitation.

Initially, the Haryana government had told the court that no incidents of rape or molestation had taken place, but a first information report was filed on March 30 based on a complaint filed by a Delhi resident.

With PTI inputs