Fed up with police inaction, girl kills self 44 days after gangrape

Forty-four days after she was allegedly gangraped, an 18-year-old girl committed suicide at Badshahpur village in Patiala district on Wednesday. The victim, who has left behind a suicide note where she had claimed that she was being harassed, consumed poisonous substance at her house and succumbed in a nearby hospital.

On Diwali, November 13, the victim was kidnapped by Balwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh of Baras village, who raped her with the connivance of a woman, Shinderpal Kaur. Later, the accused abandoned her at night.

Following her suicide, the police on Thursday arrested the three accused in the case.

Moreover, while Ghagga police station SHO Gursharan Singh, who had initially refused to register an FIR against the accused, and Investigating Officer and ASI Nasib Singh have been dismissed, Samana DSP Harpreet Singh has been suspended.

According to the girl's family, the police initially did not register an FIR against the accused and instead, the officers asked the victim insensate and boorish questions when she went to file a complaint. Ghaggha SHO Gursharan Singh finally registered the FIR after 14 days — on November 27.

Gurcharan allegedly used to ask the victim embarassing questions every time she used to visit the police station to find out about follow-up action on her complaint.

"On some occasions, the policemen would take her to the police station late evening and ask her to narrate the incident. They also tried to force her to withdraw her complaint. The policemen finally registered a FIR for rape on November 27," said the victim's elder sister.

She added that the accused had been threatening the victim despite the registration of the FIR. On November 29, the victim and her family shifted to a relative's place at Samana, a town near Patiala. However, the accused intimidated them there as well, the family alleged.

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