Bhatta rape victim wants CBI probe

NOIDA: In yet another setback to the UP Police, a rape victim from Bhatta-Parsaul has moved the Allahabad High Court seeking a CBI probe in the case. On October 24, following a petition of the victim, the High Court had ordered the police to register FIRs against 16 PAC personnel. However, not a single accused has been arrested so far. Plagued with the same, the victim has approached the court to give the matter to CBI so that the case would move at a fast pace.The victim has alleged that, from the beginning, the police are trying to hush up the case.
Speaking to TOI, counsel for the victim Ved Prakash Sharma confirmed so far no police or PAC personnel have been arrested. "After seeing that there was no headway in the case, the victim decided to move the High Court seeking CBI investigation into the matter," Sharma said. He added that the High Court will hear the victim's petition on December 15.
UP police officials said that as the matter had been handed over to CB-CID, the Gautam Budh Nagar police have nothing to do with the case. "The cases have been registered against the accused PAC personnel and police officials as per court order. It is up to CB-CID to take the matter forward," said a senior police official.
After almost six months of inaction over the alleged rapes in the twin villages, the UP police registered the rape FIR at the Dankaur police station. The case was registered after the HC upheld the decision of the Gautam Budh Nagar district court to register the rape case rejecting the plea of the state government to quash the decision of the lower court.
The ordeal that the women faced after the violent farmer-police clashes in Bhatta-Parsaul on May 7 went largely unreported. After that, women started speaking out and alleging rape by policemen who had cracked down on the protesters. The victim had gone to file a rape case before the SHO of Dankaur police station, but was refused.
So far, two FIRs have been registered in the Bhatta-Parsaul episode. Recently, following the rap of a city court, the police registered an FIR against five senior police officers and 25 constables on charges of raping and robbing a woman in Bhatta as well as for refusing to register a complaint against the alleged rapists.