Topper gangrape: police question people but no arrests yet
Chandigarh, Sep 15 : The Haryana Police on Saturday detained two persons for questioning in the gangrape of a 19-year-old board examination topper in Mahendragarh district.
Special Investigating Team (SIT) chief Nazneen Bhasin told media in Rewari that the rape of the young woman had been confirmed in the medical examination.
However, the three accused in the gang-rape case continued to evade the police, 85 hours after the incident.
The accused include a serving Armyman Pankaj, and two other youth, Manish and Nishu. All belong to Kanina village.
The police said it had detained a local medical practitioner, who was called by the accused youth when the condition of the rape victim deteriorated on Wednesday (September 12) after she had been sexually assaulted.
Police officials said that the medical practitioner gave the victim first aid after he was threatened by the accused.
The police has also detained and is questioning a local farmer, Dayanand. It was the room in the agricultural fields owned by the farmer that the accused allegedly gangraped the victim.
The Haryana Police has drawn flak for not being able to arrest any of the accused even after three days of the incident.
State Director General of Police (DGP) B.S. Sandhu said on Saturday that the accused would be arrested soon.
"One of the accused, Pankaj Fauji, is with the Army and is supposed to report for duty. We have sent teams to nab him," Sandhu told media.
Pankaj is with an Army unit posted at Kota in neighbouring Rajasthan. He got married last year.
Though the victim initially told the police that she was allegedly gang-raped by three men, her father claimed that she had seen eight to 10 men around her when she regained consciousness following the gangrape on Wednesday near Kanina village, around 350 km from here.
The victim, who has identified her attackers, and her parents had said earlier that the police were not taking action in the matter and were dealing with it casually.
The accused, who belong to the same village as the victim and knew her, allegedly kidnapped the victim from Kanina bus stand while she was on her way for coaching classes.
She said they gave her water to drink which was laced with a sedative. They then took turns raping her in a room adjoining agricultural fields till she fell unconscious.
They later dumped her at a bus stop near the village. One accused, Manish, even called up the victim's father and told him to pick her from the bus stand.
The victim, a second year student in a college, topped the board examination and was felicitated by the government.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
