Dalit woman alleges gangrape, 2 accused found dead

Barely hours after they were accused by a 35-year-old Dalit woman of gangrape, two men in their early twenties were found dead on railway tracks in Rohtak district of Haryana on Friday.

Although the police termed the deaths as suicide as the two were ashamed after being confronted by their family members, there was tension in Ajayab village. Members of the Jat community — to which the two belonged — accused the Dalits of murdering the two and dumping their bodies on the tracks.

Sandeep (23) and Sunil (24) were among five persons who were accused by the woman, a mother of four, of gangraping her on Thursday.

According to the woman, she was sleeping with her children at her home when the five barged into her house around 1.30 am and raped her. She named four persons — her husband's cousin Fauji, Sonu, Sandeep and Sunil. The fifth accused, later identified as Samundar, has been arrested. Fauji and Sonu are absconding, police said.

Rohtak Superintendent of Police Vivek Sharma told The Indian Express: "Five persons were involved in the alleged gangrape. Initially, the victim identified two of the accused. However, today, when we got her statement recorded before the Magistrate, she identified four out of five accused. She could not recall the other two names — that of Sunil and Sandeep — earlier as she was traumatised. We have arrested another accused in the case, Samundar. Raids are on to nab the other two."

The woman was sent for medical examination at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak and swabs were sent to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory at Madhuban. During her medical examination, doctors did not find any struggle marks on her body, sources said. However, final reports are awaited.

Initial police investigations point to certain contradictions in the woman's version to the police. Her eldest daughter, who is around 12, told the police that her mother had gone out of home Wednesday night, contradicting the woman's version. Also, the police were examing the woman's claim that her children were asleep beside her as she was raped in her one-room kutcha house.

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