Woman In India Gang Raped By Police Officers After She Refuses To Pay Bribe

In a shocking incident in the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, a woman who had gone to the local police station in the town of Hamirpur to inquire about her husband’s arrest was gang raped by three policemen. The incident happened on Tuesday morning at around 1 am. The woman has named three police officials – a sub inspector and two constables as the perpetrators.

According to the Hindustan Times, the incident happened after the victim’s husband was arrested by police officials on June 9 when he was found to be in possession of a gun – without a proper license. The woman who came to know of his arrest decided to visit the police station late at night to inquire about the case and to make a last ditch attempt to secure his release. According to the victim, she was initially made to wait inside the police station premises for over 20 minutes by sub inspector Rahul Pandey – the officer who had arrested her husband. She was then without warning forcibly dragged in to a secluded corner inside the police station where she was raped by the three men for over two hours. The woman also alleged that they had demanded bribes to secure her husband’s release.

The ordeal ended at around 3 am after which she was allowed to leave the police station. A few hours later, her husband was released as well – without filing any charges against him. The woman alleges that she was threatened not to talk about the rape to anyone else or else her husband would be arrested again.

Meanwhile, another report by The Guardian claims that there were four men involved in the rape and that the woman visited the police station at around 11:30 pm, and not 1 am as reported by some other media houses. This however is yet to be confirmed.

The woman who was threatened by the senior officer however decided to go ahead and file a complaint against the rapists. Criminal cases have been filed against the police officials involved in the rape and investigations have already started,

“The procedure will be followed. The victim has filed a complaint and the guilty will be arrested soon,” Virendra Kumar Shekhar, a police official from Hamirpur.

This shocking incident of rape comes just two weeks after two teenage cousins were raped, killed and hung off a tree in the same state. The increasing number of crimes against women, especially rapes in the state has put pressure on the chief minister of the state, Akhilesh Yadav to act against the criminals.

The recent rapes is also a grim reminder about the poor record that states in Northern India have when it comes to security of women. Back in December 2012, massive protests had broken out in India after a girl was brutally raped and killed by four men inside a moving bus in the country’s capital, New Delhi.

[Image via Wikimedia Commons ]