A 22-year-old married woman from Chandigarh has alleged that she was raped by 40 men for four consecutive days after being held captive at a guest house in Morni area of Haryana's Panchkula district, following which three people were arrested, police said today.
In a complaint lodged with the Chandigarh Police at Manimajra police station yesterday, the woman alleged that she was held captive for four days where the accused took turns to rape her.
The woman's husband told reporters that she was promised job at the guest house by a person known to them, adding she was drugged for four days, raped and threatened that she and her husband would be "eliminated" if she revealed the incident to anyone.While the Chandigarh Police lodged an FIR in Manimajra police station after the woman approached them with the complaint, the case was being transferred to the Panchkula Police, under whose jurisdiction the alleged incident took place.
The Panchkula Police today set up a Special Investigation Team under IPS officer Anshu Singla, who is currently posted as ASP, Panchkula, to probe the matter.
Three police personnel -- two Assistant Sub-Inspectors, including a woman officer, and a constable -- have been placed under suspension for negligence in the matter and failing to inform higher officials about the incident.
"They have been suspended for negligence in dealing with the it, failing to proactively pursue the matter and not informing senior officers in the sensitive matter," he said.
"The case is being transferred to Panchkula police from Chandigarh," Mr Meena told PTI.
Dismissing reports that the woman had approached the Chandigarh Police after their Haryana counterpart failed to address her complaint, the DCP said, "This is not true. She went to Chandigarh Police as someone had told her that it would be easy for her to do so as she lived in Chandigarh."
Mr Meena said three people, including owner of the guest house and a manager, have been arrested.
Haryana police were also conducting intensive checking of other guest houses in Morni area, to check if any illegal activity was going on. CCTV footage of the guest house where the alleged incident took place would be scanned, he said.
Police earlier said they were investigating the incident after receiving woman's complaint.
The woman's husband claimed, "One of the accused had promised a job to her at the guest house. He had agreed to employ her at a monthly salary of Rs. 11,000 to 12,000 for cleaning the guest house. We did not know anybody, except him.""Every day, about 10 men would brutalise her and this continued for four days between July 15 and 18. Then she somehow managed to call me over phone and told me that she was in great trouble. I spoke to the guest house manager and told him to leave her or else I would call the police. My wife later reached home and narrated the ordeal after which we lodged a police complaint," he said.
Indian police have arrested the owner of a guesthouse and its manager after a woman alleged she was drugged and raped by some 40 men over four days, an official said Friday.
The incident is the latest in a string of sexual attack cases reported from across the country where nearly 110 rapes are reported every day, according to official figures.In a complaint to the police, the 22-year-old woman said she was promised a job at the guesthouse in the northern state of Haryana by a person known to her.
But she was instead held captive, drugged and raped by various men over four days, senior police officer Rajendar Kumar Meena told AFP, citing the written complaint of the victim.
Three junior police officials “have been suspended for negligence and not informing senior officers about the sensitive matter”, Meena added.
Sexual violence is rife in India, with 110,333 rape cases reported in the country between 2014 and 2016.The country’s dire record on sexual violence has been in the global spotlight since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a woman on a New Delhi bus sparked angry protests.
The incident led to tougher sentences and reforms in the country’s rape laws but sexual crime against women, as well as against minors, remains rampant.
Indian police arrested 17 men this week for allegedly raping an 11-year-old girl over several weeks in southern city of Chennai.
