04, Feb 2016

Feb 04 2016 : The Times of India (Mumbai)
Mrigank Tiwari
Bareilly:In a shocking decision, a local panchayat in Bareilly pardoned an alleged rapist after making him touch the survivor’s feet. The entire episode took place in front of a police station. After senior officials came to know of it, a complaint was lodged and a probe begun.

The survivor, a 30-year-old widow, was working at a levelling project under the MGNREGS in a forested area in Meergunj tehsil on January 28.

She was alone at the work site after her fellow workers left for lunch. The accused, a rozgar sewak named Rohtash (32), who was appointed to supervise the workers arrived on a bike. Seeing her alone, he alleg edly dragged her to an isolated spot and raped her, threat ening to kill her if she reported the assault.The survivor later went to Meergunj police station to lodge a complaint. The constables on duty allegedly refused to entertain her complaint and called up the village pradhan instead, who arrived at the spot with the accused.The pradhan then called for a panchayat right outside the police station, where Rohtash was ordered to touch the woman’s feet. The panchayat then declared that the alleged rapist was pardoned and asked the survivor to keep mum.

The survivor then brought the matter to the notice of SP (rural) Brijesh Srivastava, who reprimanded Meergunj police.