Gang-rape: Act against ‘erring cops’, Harsimrat tells govt

Bathinda, June 7 

Union Food Processing Industries Minister and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday asked the Congress government to act on the National Commission for Women (NCW) findings that the Bathinda police “failed to give justice to a gang-rape victim”, even as she thanked NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma for taking steps, which led to the arrest of the accused in the case.

Harsimrat said while the NCW “had already exposed the functioning of the Bathinda police with its two-member team, disclosing how main accused had been let off post detention at the instance of a local Congress leader”, the state government had failed to initiate any action against the police officers. “This is essential to restore the faith of the people in the police administration and to give a clear signal that crime against women will not be tolerated at any cost,” she added. 

She urged the NCW to recommend action against the police officers who had “failed to perform their duties under political pressure”. 

Writing in this regard to the NCW chairperson, the minister said aggrieved parents of the gang-rape victim had repeatedly approached the police for justice, but the Bathinda police “failed to arrest the accused or even call them for questioning”. Thanking NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma for deputing a team to make an on the spot inquiry, Harsimrat said “police inaction as well as its complicity with the accused” who were linked with the Congress had come out in the open. “The accused were arrested only after the NCW stepped in,” she added.

Asking for a clean-up act in the Bathinda police, Harsimrat said the entire “police set up had become politicised and the common man was not getting any justice”. She said the manner in which Bathinda police mishandled the complaint of the mother of the gang-rape victim was itself proof of the same. “The victim went missing on January 19 this year. The police did not file a missing person report. Two months after the victim reached home it came to light that she had been sold to two women and gang-raped. — TNS