Women activists react angrily to rape, murder cases in Ahmednagar, Rohtak

Kolkata/Mumbai/New Delhi, July 18 (ANI): Women's rights activist and lawyer Abha Singh on Monday said it was shocking to hear how a 14-year-old was gang raped and physically mutilated in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, saying that it reminded her of the brutal December 2012 Nirbhaya case. Demanding strict administrative action, Singh said such incidents were taking place in spite of very strict rape-related laws that could also lead to imposition of a death sentence. "It is very shameful that no action was taken for three days in the Ahmednagar incident. The Maharashtra government wakes up when media creates a hue and cry... it clearly shows that law and order situation has broken down in Maharashtra," she told ANI. Referring to the repeat rape of a gang rape survivor in Rohtak, Haryana, Singh said, "The rape victim is re-raped by the same rapist because she refuses to do an out of court settlement; because she refuses to take the case back after being threatened by this rapist.it clearly shows that there is no fear of law in Haryana. The local officers need to be suspended. And, the chief minister of Haryana must come onboard and show and tell why this has happened, or is it his political patronage to the rapist that has led to this case or otherwise," she added. Former National Commission for Women (NCW) member Nirmala Samant said, "This incident it raises a very big question to its law and order situation in Maharashtra. Police should catch hold of the culprits and punish them so that they can set an example. It is also a good thing that the CM is taking personal interest in this. no one should be spared in this. Police has to be very active so that they can nab the culprits. They should take it very seriously," she added. A 15-year-old girl was brutally raped allegedly by three men before she was throttled in Kopardi village in Karjat taluka of Ahmednagar district. According to the police, the incident is said to have taken place on July 14 in the district's Karjat tehsil when the girl, who was visiting her grandparents did not return home. Anxious search parties found her bicycle, and later her mutilated body in a nearby farm. Irate villagers and activists took out a protest march on Sunday in Kopardi village, the site of the murder, demanding stiff action against the accused. Reports indicated that violence had been inflicted on the minor, whose flesh from all over her body, including her genitals, was badly mutilated. In a separate incident, a 20-year-old Dalit woman was raped by five men and left to die in the bushes in Haryana's Rohtak, around 60 km from Delhi, this week. But what is even more shocking is that the men who are accused are the same five who had raped her earlier in 2013. According to reports, the survivor's family, the men, who are all in their twenties and out on bail, wanted them to settle the case and were punishing the woman for pursuing it in court. (ANI)