Three policemen suspended for death of rape survivor’s father ‘in accident’

Three police personnel were suspended in Kanpur on Thursday after a preliminary probe found them culpable of negligence in the death “in an accident” of the father of a minor girl who was allegedly gang-raped on March 8.

DIG Kanpur Preetinder Singh said the halka prabhari of the Sajeti police station, the Ghatampur outpost in charge and a beat constable were suspended for “negligence” on the basis of an initial probe report. The latter two were suspended for negligence in the accident in which the father of the girl died. A detailed probe would be carried out by SP Rural Kanpur.

Meanwhile, police arrested the second of the three accused persons, Dipu Yadav, who is the son of a police officer posted in Kannuaj. Golu Yadav, one of the two who allegedly raped the minor, has already been arrested.

The third accused, Saurabh Yadav, who is yet to be arrested, is Dipu’s brother and is accused of intimidating the minor girl’s family when they were trying to lodge a complaint against the alleged gang rape.

The father of the girl aged 13 died after being hit by a truck a day after she lodged a police complaint on Wednesday.

Relatives’ charge

The relatives of the girl alleged that he was murdered and accused the police of complicity.

A case under Sections 376d (a), 504 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5G/6 of the POCSO Act was registered at the Sajeti police station on March 9. The girl had reached a community health centre in Ghatampur for a medical examination after the FIR, when her father and brother stepped out to drink tea in the morning, said a senior police officer. The father was hit by an unidentified truck wand taken to a hospital where he died, said DIG Kanpur Preetinder Singh, adding that a case under accident had been registered.

As per the FIR lodged on March 9 against the three accused, the girl’s father said that on March 8, when his daughter was returning home from the fields around 7 p.m., Dipu and Golu grabbed her from behind and took her to an isolated place and took turns to repeatedly rape her. They threatened to kill her if she made noise or informed anyone, he stated.

The girl managed to return home late at night in a bad state and narrated her ordeal, the FIR said.

The girl’s family alleged that a day after the incident, when they had just stepped out of the house to lodge a complaint, Saurabh appeared and threatened to kill them if they went to the police to report the matter.

“You should know that my father is a daroga [police inspector]. You can’t do anything to us through police station and police. We will do the bad act [rape] again in front of everyone,” the FIR read, quoting the alleged threat made to the girl’s family by Saurabh.

Stage dharna

The girl’s relatives and outraged locals staged a dharna on the road and held up traffic on the Kanpur-Sagar highway. The girl’s grandfather alleged that his son had been murdered in complicity with the police. “Police walo ne marwa dala hai [The police got him killed],” he told journalists.

IG Kanpur Mohit Agarwal said directions had been sent to book the accused under the National Security Act and the Gangsters Act. If the accused had illegal property or house or had encroached upon government land, it would be seized or demolished. An ex-gratia of ₹10 lakh and five bigha of land had been announced for the victim family as compensation, he said.

The State police, in a tweet, had instructed the Kanpur police to swiftly crack the case of the father’s death on the basis of “evidence” and ensure the arrest of all accused in the gang rape case.