Noida:
In yet another shocking incident highlighting how unsafe the National Capital Region is for women, a 17-year-old girl was gangraped by five of her neighbours in a moving car in Delhi's satellite town Noida last night.
The victim knew one of the accused and had gone out with him for his birthday celebration last night. But while dropping her back, close to midnight, the accused, along with four other men in the car, took turns and raped the Class X student.
The men, in their early twenties, are mostly students and one of them is studying commerce in Delhi University.
After the medical examination confirmed rape, police arrested four people - Himanshu Sharma, Rahul Arya, Sunil and Saurabh. The fifth accused is on the run. Rahul is a gatekeeper at the Spice Mall in Sector 25; Saurabh runs a garage.
Police say the car, in which the rape allegedly took place, has also been recovered.
But what was a traumatic incident for the victim was made worse as the police put out the name and address of the Class X student, a rape victim, in their press release.
The Noida police's insensitivity was evident in the press conference too. They said that the girl had willingly gone out to drink with the men, though the press release that quoted her written statement said she had claimed that she was lured into it, and forced to drink.
"She had gone there willingly... She was not lured into it... They drank vodka," said Ananth Dev Tiwari, Superintendent of Police, Noida.
The Supreme Court has observed that no judgement in rape cases should name the victim, and there are court directions which say the victims' statement should be taken at face value till the trial proves otherwise.
However, the Noida police, clearly, did not pay heed to this.