Woman raped in car at gunpoint in Kolkata; cops seek explanation about posture of rape

February 16, 2012

raped


Kolkata, February 16: A young woman was picked up in a car outside a night club and raped at gunpoint by five men as they drove around the Maidan after midnight on February 5. They shoved a pistol into her mouth and punched and kicked her, saying "Chillaogi to thok denge (We will shoot you if you scream)." She was dumped at Exide crossing about 90 minutes later, torn, bloodied and battered.

If this sends a chill down your spine, here's worse - the police ignored her complaints when she mustered courage to report the incident two days later and even mocked her for going to a night club. Two officers allegedly passed sleazy remarks at her at Park Street police station, when she was summoned for a forensic examination on February 14. And, it was a male police officer who 'escorted' her to the test, rather than a policewoman.

The victim is still determined to fight back and trawled Facebook to get the names and photographs of the suspects, but the police brushed it off. They did not even ask her for the clothes she wore on the night of the incident. TOI is withholding the pictures of the three suspects she claims to have identified.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that the complaint was filed late. "The police are trying their best. Damayanti Sen (joint CP, crime) and Javed Shamim (joint CP, HQ) are investigating the case. A similar incident had happened in Malda when I was there and I initiated action instantly."

The victim is a mother of two and was employed with a private firm till 2010 when she resigned to take care of her children. She was born and brought up in Kolkata and always considered it a safe city. When a few friends suggested going to a nightclub on Park Street on the evening of February 5, she hesitated a bit but agreed. "We were having a small party at Grail Club on Park Street. The night club was virtually next doors and I was a regular there till a few years ago. I gave in, thinking I should go and unwind," she told TOI.

Accompanied by three friends she walked into the discotheque around 11.30pm. Her friends left a little before 1 am but she decided to hang around for some more time. She was standing near the dance floor, sipping beer, when a young man came and introduced himself as Gidwani, she says.

"This guy seemed be in his early twenties. He sounded decent and polite. So I interacted with him. After some time he introduced me to three of his friends," she said. She remembers two names, Sharafat Ali and Azhar Ali. Around 2am, she told them that she was leaving as her daughters and mother would be waiting. Gidwani offered her a lift. She hesitated, but agreed, saying she would get off wherever she found a taxi. "They advised me I should not travel alone at that hour. Since none of them had behaved indecently I thought I was safe. How would I know that the saviours would turn tormentors in a few minutes," she said.

A vehicle (a Honda Civic or City) with a driver was waiting for them outside. She and Gidwani got in. The others also piled in. Gidwani sat to her right and Sharafat to her left. There was a fourth man in the back seat and Azhar sat in front.

The rape victim says she started feeling uncomfortable with the body language of Sharafat soon after getting into the car. "I asked them to stop the car in front of Trincas (barely 10 metres away). I tried to reach for the door to open it. But Sharafat pulled me by the hair, pushed me face down, and told the driver, Salman, to speed up," she told TOI. "When I struggled to scream for help, Sharafat pulled out a pistol and shoved it into my mouth. I was punched and kicked in the stomach. I felt helpless and terrified."

She says the four men took turns molesting her. "Then Sharafat forced himself on me. I kept pleading with him but he threatened to shoot me," she said, breaking into tears. "He raped me, hurling obscene abuses."

She was beaten so mercilessly that she heard one of the other men tell Sharafat: "Bhai usko maar daloge kya, chhod do (do you want to kill him? Let her go)." But Sharafat went on raping her. "When he was done with me, he told the rest that it was their turn now, but they refused. They said, 'Isko bahar phenk do (throw her out)'," she said.

She was dumped at Exide crossing around 3.30am. She slumped on the roadside for a few minutes, before hailing a taxi to reach home. "My niece called me around 4am, inconsolable traumatized. We were horrified. We never thought something like this could happen in Kolkata," said her aunt, who stays in the opposite end of the city.

The next morning relatives flocked to her. It took another day of counselling before she agreed to go to police.

However, Park Street police station officially registered the complaint on February 9. She says she was asked uncomfortable questions and jeered at for going to a night club. "Is it a sin to go to a night club? The policemen made me feel like a criminal. I was already traumatised and they made me all the more sick," she said.

"The officer in charge asked me awkward questions in the name of investigation. He asked me how a woman could be raped inside a moving car. Then he wanted me to explain the posture in which the accused had raped me," alleged the victim. The law - and basic decency - dictates that a rape victim be handled with sensitivity. But the victim says that some officers at Park Street police station taunted her for going to a nightclub and even tried to malign her character.

Joint commissioner, crime, Damayanti Sen said on Wednesday that the victim had not told police about the lewd remarks from officers. "We will speak with her and if anyone is guilty, we will take action," she promised.

The victim volunteered for a medical examination at NRS Hospital on February 9. The report confirmed abrasions in the inside of her mouth, on the temple, and the knees. Police applied in court for a forensic test on February 10 and the examination was carried out on February 14th. Someone matching Sharafat's description was picked up but released when the victim could not identify him said Sen.



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News Network
April 3,2020

Pilibhit, Apr 3: Two men were mauled to death by a tiger in the vicinity of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve here, an official said on Friday.

The incident happened in Richhaula Chowki of Gajraula area in the district on Thursday night when Ninder Singh (50) and his servant Dorilal (28) were sleeping on their agricultural field, Pilibhit Tiger Reserve Deputy Director Naveen Khandelwal told reporters.

The tiger also dragged them for over 500 metres, he said.

The forest department came to know about the incident when they were informed about it by Ninder's brother after which teams of police, district administration and forest department reached there.

The tiger was tranquillised on Friday by the forest department team and will be sent to Lucknow Zoo.

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Agencies
May 6,2020

A man posed as Superintendent of Police (SP), called up a subordinate police official and asked him to get his mobile phone repaired or face the consequences. But, his bluff was later called and the man landed in lockup.

Azamgarh SP Triveni Singh said the 23-year-old youth, Shubham Upadhyay, is the son of a farmer. He was preparing for competitive exams when his phone developed a snag on Saturday. He tried to reach out to local mechanics, but they were unavailable to fix it due to the lockdown.

Upadhyay used a free caller identification app to call up the in-charge of the Kotwali police station, K. K. Gupta, and threatened to shunt him out, if he failed to swiftly get the work done. Gupta grew suspicious and eventually caught the youth.

n his statement to the police, Shubham Upadhyay said, "On Sunday noon, I tried to breach the district borders to reach Lucknow to repair my phone, but since there was heavy police presence and barricading, I returned home. Later, I installed a free caller identification app in my handset and mentioned the name as SP Azamgarh and even uploaded a photo of the cop to appear genuine."

He first called SHO, Kotwali to get the phone repaired and was told the handset would be picked up from the SP office in an hour. Then, he called a businessman to bring his SUV and hand over his mobile to the SHO.

But when Upadhyay called the police again to suggest a separate meeting point, he raised suspicion. When the SHO tried to confirm the venue, Upadhyay got hesitant and said he would send a peon.

"I suddenly realised something was fishy and rang up the public relation officer of SP Azamgarh, who denied any such order from the SP. When the caller's number was scanned, it displayed the name of SP Azamgarh," said SHO Gupta.

A trap was laid and when the SHO reached the venue, he found one Praveen Shukla sitting in the vehicle. Police got the address of the accused from Shukla and reached Upadhyay's home in Bilariya locality and arrested him.

Upadhyay has been booked under IT Act and for threatening a public servant.

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Agencies
January 15,2020

Chandigarh, Jan 15: A man, who has killed two women over infidelity over the last 10 years was arrested from a news channel studio in Chandigarh when he confessed to these crimes during a live programme, police said.

In the television programme on News18, the 31-year-old accused, Maninder Singh, who is a cab driver, confessed killing his live-in partner, a 27-year-old nurse Sarabjit Kaur at a Chandigarh hotel on New Year's Eve.

Singh, a former murder convict and currently out on bail, also confessed about his crime committed in Karnal in 2010.

"I killed her (Sarabjit Kaur) because she was having an affair with her sister-in-law's brother," Maninder told the news channel.

Confessing his previous crime, Maninder said he had killed Renu in Karnal. "She was also having an affair with a man from Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Singh was arrested while the programme was still on air as police rushed into the studio.

Haryana Police had arrested him for killing the woman in 2010. He was convicted by a trial court, but he later got bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

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