This is the fifth incident of rape and fourth of a teenaged girl in Haryana in the last one month. Incidentally, Rohtak is the home district of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The incident took place on the Rohtak-Hisar road when a 26-year-man, belonging to the Saansi community, allegedly kidnapped a 15-year-old girl and raped her in a car on the highway. The girl was later dumped near her residence. On Tuesday morning, when the girl informed her parents about the incident, the matter was reported to the police.

The Rohtak police have booked the accused on charges of rape, while four others, including the victim’s three aunts, have been booked for criminal conspiracy and playing a part in the alleged kidnapping and subsequent rape.

“The police were informed about the incident by the victim’s family today. Acting on the complaint by the girl’s family, we got the girl medically examined at the civil hospital. The prime accused in the case, a driver by profession, has been arrested. Two aunts of the victim have also been arrested. Two more accused are absconding but will be arrested soon,” said SHO Rajbir Singh of city police station, Rohtak.

The victim’s father is a daily wage labourer and the only earning hand in a family of eight including his wife, two sons and four daughters.

The latest case of kidnapping and rape of a minor girl takes place a day after state DGP R S Dalal instructed all district police chiefs to keep an eye on “loafers” in the state and prevent the occurrence of such incidents.

Haryana Police fails to curb MMS circulation

Justice seems far away for two gangrape victims, crimes against whom, were caught on mobile phones and circulated by the accused. Even as the Haryana Police claim to achieved breakthroughs in both the cases, they have failed to stop the circulation of the MMSes.

A 16-yr-old Dalit girl, resident of Dabra village in Hisar, was allegedly gangraped by eight youngsters, while four others filmed the entire sequence on their mobile phones and then circulated the MMS through the internet. A few days later, a 30-year-old woman in Jind was allegedly gangraped by three people and again the crime was caught on phone and distributed through the internet.

What is most shocking is the brazen nature of the MMSes. Sources said that in both the MMSes, there are glimpses of the accused while a few of their voices could also be heard. In both, the victims are pleading and crying, asking to be spared.

“Arresting the accused is not the only remedy. The damage is irrevocable. And what about the videos of

the rape, which are still in circulation, we are told. The police has done nothing on that front. Despite us informing them, on the same day we lodged our complaint that the accused have also recorded the rape on their mobile phones and are circulating it extensively, the police have not been able to stop the circulation of such MMSes”, one of the victims’ relative told The Indian Express.

Police at Jind said they have been trying to stop the circulation of the clip”. “Once such an MMS is made, it becomes global. We have conducted surprise raids at certain cyber cafes in Jind, and deleted the MMS, where we found it. We have also levelled provisions, punishable under the IT Act, against the accused. Under the legal provisions, whoever, is found viewing or further circulating such an MMS, shall be liable to be booked and punished under the IT Act. We are making all efforts to stop further circulation of the MMS,” said Sourabh Singh, Superintendent of Police, Jind.

On the other hand, Hisar police officers expressed their inability to stop the circulation of MMS in the Dalit girl’s case “The mobile phones of the accused were seized by police, but all of them have already deleted the MMS from their mobile phones. We will be sending the mobile phones for forensic examination to try and retrieve the deleted MMS, which will be vital evidence in the case. So far, there is no evidence, to our knowledge, that any such MMSes are in circulation”, one of the investigating police officers of Hisar gangrape case, said.