13 years after Nirbhaya, another December: Faridabad woman gangraped in moving van, two held
Faridabad (PTI): A woman was allegedly gangraped in a moving van through the night and thrown out of the speeding vehicle, suffering serious head and facial injuries, on a desolate road by two men who have since been arrested, police said on Wednesday.
The assault of the mother of three, which brings back the horror of the Nirbhaya rape on another cold December night 13 years ago, took place in the early hours of Tuesday on the winding, little populated Gurgaon-Faridabad, officials said.
Faridabad police produced the two accused, one from Uttar Pradesh and the other from Madhya Pradesh, in a city court on Wednesday and sent them into judicial custody, they said.
The 25-year-old, who had been living at her parents’ home after troubles with her husband, suffered severe injuries to head and her face, which required more than 12 stitches. She has been admitted to a private hospital in Faridabad, adjoining the national capital.
Her condition is critical, and she is not yet fit to record a statement, a police official said.
Recapping what had happened, police said the two men, who live in Faridabad, offered her a lift while she was waiting for transport. Instead of taking her to her destination, however, the two men drove towards Gurugram and raped her inside the van.
She was driven around through the night and thrown out of the vehicle that was moving at a speed of over 90 kmph near Raja Chowk in Faridabad around 3 am.
Bleeding profusely, the woman managed to call her sister, who reached the spot and took her to the Badshah Khan Civil Hospital.
Given the seriousness of her injuries, the doctors advised that she be taken to Delhi, but the family admitted her to the private hospital. A doctor at the hospital said she had suffered significant injuries, including broken facial cavities and a dislocated shoulder.
“Preparations are underway for surgery and the woman is out of danger. It appears the injuries were caused by a hard object or by being thrown onto the road. Samples have been sent to the FSL for examination by police,” he said.
The sister said in her complaint that the woman was seriously injured after she was thrown out of the vehicle. “Considering her condition, we decided to admit her to a private hospital,” the survivor’s sister said.
According to the complaint, the 25-year-old had gone to her friend's house in Sector 23 on Monday evening and was returning home when she was offered a lift by the accused.
The two men are not known to the woman.
The van used in the crime has been seized, and the accused have confessed to the offence, police said.
“Due to the TIP (Test Identification Parade) process, the names and photos of the accused cannot be revealed at this time. A further probe is underway,” said Yashpal Yadav, a spokesperson for the Faridabad police.
The horrific incident has exposed the failure of law and order in BJP-ruled Haryana, state Congress president Rao Narendra Singh said
“Women feel unsafe and criminals are emboldened under the BJP rule,” he alleged.
He added that the incident raises serious questions about women's safety in the state, and blamed the police administration for failing to prevent such crimes.
He also demanded a fast-track trial of the case, and sought adequate compensation and full security for the victim, besides a high-level probe and strict action against the responsible officials.
“There should be no compromise on the safety of Haryana's daughters. The BJP government must take moral responsibility for this incident,” the Congress leader said.
Exactly 12 years ago in December 2012, a young physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as Nirbhaya, the fearless one, was brutally gangraped in a moving bus and thrown out near the Delhi airport, her injuries so grievous that she died 13 days later in a Singapore hospital.
The case led to an overhaul of rape laws in the country.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
