Two labourers, Shahnawaz and Nadeem, have been arrested for the abduction and gang-rape of a minor girl living in East Delhi’s Harsh Vihar area. Two other accused, Taufiq and Javed, are on the run.
The girl was abducted by Shahnawaz outside her home on 15th August and taken to a house in Greater Noida. There, she was held captive for 6 days, assaulted and gang-raped by the 4 men. Somehow, she managed to escape on Tuesday and reached Surajpur police station.
As per reports, the girl’s family said that the 4 accused had come to their locality a few months back to lay a sewer line. Shahnawaz was living as a tenant near the girl’s home and would often visit her house on the pretext of handing over keys to his room while leaving for work. He had been raping her during those visits, and threatened her to keep quiet and not tell her parents.
The girl’s condition is very bad and she is undergoing treatment in GTB Hospital. During medical examination, it was found that she was 5-months pregnant and unaware of it – in fact, she had been taking medicine for swelling of the stomach from a local dispensary. She revealed about her sexual abuse in the past at the hands of Shahnawaz during interaction with counsellors.
DCP North East Atul Kumar Thakur said, “The girl is currently not in a condition to give her statement. We are awaiting doctor’s permission to take her statement. Police teams are trying to arrest the other accused.”
Interestingly, the Hindustan Times headline gives more prominence to the girl’s pregnancy rather than the brutality she underwent.
The headlines and the initial lines of the article can be seen to imply that the girl has fabricated the kidnapping & rape charge after realizing she is pregnant.
Overlooking the fact that any sex with a minor (consensual or otherwise) is rape, how difficult could it be for a national newspaper like Hindustan Times to pay a visit to the hospital where the girl is admitted and gather first hand information to ascertain the girl’s condition, to see if it matches that of someone who has suffered 6 days of captivity and gang-rape?
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