Chandigarh, Jan 20: Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday lashed out at the Special Investigating Team (SIT) for the way it conducted the probe in the Murthal rape case. The High Court observed that evidence and statements of victims indicate that rapes were committed at Murthal during the Jat reservation protests in February 2016. The High court directed the SIT to find the perpetrators to instill confidence in the public.
Based on the evidence and statements of the witnesses, one of them a taxi driver, the Punjab and Haryana High Court observed that rapes had taken place in Murthal during Jat stir. The taxi driver had said that women were dragged out of their vehicles by rioters during the violent protest. The High Court also asked the SIT to file an affidavit before the trial court that rape charges hadn’t been dropped and were still under investigation.
The Police had booked five person in connection of rape cases in Murthal during Jat agitation, but the rape charge was dropped as their blood did not match semen samples from the undergarments. The development comes after senior advocate and amicus curiae in the case, Anupam Gupta questioned the SIT about the manner in which it conducted the probe. Anupam Gupta alleged that the SIT was acting as the defence in the case and making deliberate attempts to drop rape charges in the case.
After outrightly denying any incidents of rape during the violent Jat agitation, the BJP-ruled Haryana government in April last year had admitted that there could be a “possibility” that rapes happened. In February, the government had emphatically told the high court that no such incidents of rape or molestation were reported from the district during the agitation. At least 30 people were killed and over 320 injured in the nine-day long Jat agitation for reservation.
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