Nowhere safe for women; death penalty only justice, says sister of ‘gang rape’ survivor

“Women are not safe anywhere.” This is the sentiment shared by the family of a 13-year-old girl after she was allegedly gang raped by three men and left for dead on the outskirts of Lucknow early Monday morning.
The survivor, a student of Class 7, was yet to regain consciousness at Veerangana Jhalkari Bai Women’s Hospital here where she was admitted after the assault.
“Women are not safe anywhere. We only want justice, which, in this case is death penalty and bulldozer action,” the girl’s elder sister said outside the hospital.
Around 3.30 am, the girl had gone to the fields to relieve herself near her house in the Laulaai area under the Chinhat police station limits where she encountered the three men. They allegedly raped her, and abandoned her in the nearby bushes, located a mere 500 metres from her house, with her limbs tied.
Even as police have rounded up some suspects, the key accused, a minor, was still on the run, they said.
As of now, police have booked a case under sections 64 (1) (rape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and 5/6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, said deputy commissioner of police (East) Shashank Singh.
The DCP stated that the survivor’s statement would be recorded before a magistrate, and her medical test reports were awaited. “We have detained several suspects. The prime suspect is a minor and currently on the run,” he said.
No ‘gang rape’ charge in FIR yet
Police were yet to add the charges of gang rape in the FIR. The family said the girl woke up early to get ready for school. “We were terrified when she didn’t come back till 4:30 am. We called my brother and cousin, who live nearby, and we looked for her for hours. Around 8 am, we decided to look for her in Barabanki and also went to a nearby police outpost to report her missing. Around 10.19 am, my brother got a call stating that she had been found,” the sister said, adding that the family had evidence to prove that the girl had been assaulted. “We took her to the Lohia hospital and informed police through ‘112’.”
“My sister, who is in no condition to talk, could, however, manage to tell us that the men stuffed her mouth with a piece of cloth, after which she lost her consciousness,” she said, adding that they were in the dark about the assaulters’ identity.
Meanwhile, cabinet minister Sanjay Nishad has asked police to take quick actions in the case and arrest all the accused as soon as possible.