25-Year -Old Woman allegedly raped while going to Farmer Protest in Haryana.
Byline By- Vinayak Heliwal
A Woman Activist who had traveled from West Bengal to join the farmer protest at the Tikri border, was allegedly raped on the way to Delhi. Reportedly she died on April 30 after contracting Covid-19.
In the first incident of its kind at the farmer protest site, the Haryana Police on Sunday booked six persons for gang rape and abduction of a 25-year-old activist at Tikri border.
The accused identified as Anil Malik, Anup Singh, Ankush Sangwan, and Jagdish Brar along with two women had pitched tents at Tikri border under the banner of Kisan Social Army and have been booked by the Haryana Police.
Police on Sunday formed a special Investigation team after the women’s father alleged that she was raped when she went to the border point with some members of an outfit that is supporting the protest against the Centre’s new farm laws.
In a complaint to police on Saturday, the father said that his daughter traveled from Bengal to Tikri on April 10, officials said.
On the intervening night of April 25 and April 26, the 25-year-old woman was admitted to a hospital in Bahadurgarh in the Jhajjar district after she developed Covid-19 like symptoms. Notably, Bahadurgarh police officer Vijay Kumar said that she died on April 30.
Quoting the complaint, Mr. Kumar said that she was raped by a group of men that came to support the farmer’s protest. The woman narrated the whole ordeal to her father on phone, the police officer said.
“She died during treatment. The hospital authorities have told us they treated her as a Covid patient. We have applied for documents, which are awaited, and only after we get them can we confirm if her death was Covid-related,” Mr. Kumar said.
Meanwhile, The Samyukta Kisan Morcha said in its statement that it “stands with the struggle for justice for our deceased woman colleague. SKM has already taken strict action against the accused in this case and we are committed to take this fight for justice to its logical conclusion.”
“When this came to the notice of the SKM, we decided to take the strictest possible action. Four days ago, the Tikri committee of SKM had already removed the tents and banners of the so-called ‘Kisan Social Army’. The accused were also barred from participating in the movement and public appeal was issued for their social boycott,” the statement stated.