Police await birth of child to initiate action against guilty

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 20

The police have lodged a case against an unidentified person for raping a woman inmate at the Pingla Ghar here. The city police have decided to await birth of the baby of the 37-year-old mentally challenged woman before nabbing the culprits.

Ironically, the police have lodged an FIR against an unidentified person on Monday after the Jalandhar DC handed over a report of the five-member committee to the Police Commissioner for criminal investigation in the case. The case has been registered under Sections 376, 417, 418 and 120-B of the IPC.

With three months to go for birth of the baby, the situation, hence, allows ample window for the real culprit of the case, to walk free until the police find him.

The report, prepared by the five-member committee, headed by Shahkot SDM Navneet Kaur Bal on the issue clearly mentions the names of an employee of the Pingla Ghar and the husband of the woman. However, the FIR also does not include the names of any of the Pingla Ghar managerial staff (also named in the report) under whose watch the said woman inmate was raped and married off.

An inquiry ordered by the Jalandhar DC (conducted by the five-member team) on September 4 had found that the six-month pregnant 37-year-old woman had been married off clandestinely to another inmate at the home on August 8.

The probe report, tabled under the Shahkot SDM, clearly stated, “The woman is pregnant, hence needs good care. As per the psychiatrist’s report the woman appears mentally challenged, which makes it clear that the question of her consent does not arise in the case; her pregnancy makes it clear that she had contact with someone enduring her stay at the Pingla Ghar. Naming of an employee by her and her husband’s statement that he did not know about her pregnancy at the time of the wedding, merit a police probe in the case.”

Police Commissioner Pravin Kumar Sinha said, “The woman’s mentally challenged status and the need to establish the paternity of the baby are the current challenges in the investigation. A DNA test of the baby is important to decide the culprit in the case and to determine the biological father. The investigation is still in its initial stage and we will have to wait until the birth of the child to proceed further."