Chandigarh:
At a time when the state is facing severe criticism for crime against women, a panchayat in the state has reportedly offered money to the family of one of the victims to shield the accused.
The father of a 13-year-old victim, who was allegedly raped by a 62-year-old food vendor for four months, alleges that the sarpanch of Khai village, near the Punjab border, allegedly tried to cover up the crime because the accused belonged to his community. The accused allegedly used to lure the teen with fruits and then rape her outside her school in Fatehabad.
According to reports, the family rejected panchayat's offer of Rs 35,000 and reported the case to the police. The father of the victim said, "I want the accused to be hanged to death. The sarpanch has been pressurising me to let go of the matter because that man is from his community. He gave me Rs. 35,000. But I want justice."
But what's more shocking is the way the victim was treated by her school authorities after they came to know of the rape - the victim and her two siblings were expelled from the school.
"The school authorities were sitting in the park along with the sarpanch. I was made to sit in the office and they decided to cancel the names of all my three daughters...Not just one, all three of my daughters are sitting at home now," said the victim's father.
"When I asked them why the names of my daughters were struck off, they just said your daughters won't study here," he added. One of his daughters said, "Masterji said we are a bad influence so we can't study here."
However, the principal of the government school says that it was the father who withdrew the names of his daughters from the school.
The state's social welfare minister, Geeta Bhuggal, has promised action in the case. "I assure we will do a strict investigation and the children will definitely go to school," she said.
In just 37 days, at least 20 rape cases have been reported from Haryana. On one side the state government has been unable to control the spiralling number of rape cases, on the other, a Haryana Congress leader, a few days ago, said that 90 per cent of rapes are consensual.