Noida rape-murder sparks protests, cops suspended

Noida, Jan 6 (IANS) Four policemen were suspended and an officer was shunted out here after a 22-year-old missing woman was founded gang-raped and murdered, police said Sunday.

The victim's family identified the main suspect as Udaivir Singh Yadav, a resident of Bahlolpur. They said he had not been arrested although he used to torment the victim for a long time.

The mother of the dead woman, who belonged to a low income family, accused the rapists of killing her daughter to do away with evidence that could be used against them. The gory incident led to angry street protests.

Two constables at the Model Town police post and two others attached to a Police Control Room van have been suspended, a police officer said.

R.K. Rathi, the Model Town police post in charge, had been shunted to Police Lines after the mother alleged that the police personnel misbehaved with her when she told them that her daughter was missing.

It was on Friday that the victim left her home at 8.30 a.m. for a 12-hour factory job in Sector 63.

When the girl did not reach home until 10 p.m., they conducted a search and reached the police station where the officer suggested she might have eloped with her boyfriend. After police did not show any interest in locating the missing woman, the distraught family contacted the factory whose workers told them they saw her leave at 9.00 p.m. -- up till the police post.

The family got a call Saturday morning that the daughter was lying dead alongside a road in Sector 63. She was half naked.

The mother said her daughter was gang-raped before being killed.

She alleged that Yadav, the suspected rapist, used to torment her daughter but Noida police did not pay heed to her complaints.

Once Yadav had barged into her house. At that time police urged her to go for a compromise, suggesting that otherwise it would lead to a long-term conflict with the "notorious character".

This time too, the callous police personnel told her brusquely that her daughter was an adult and must have fled with a friend. They also told her to hunt for the missing daughter on her own.

On Saturday, when the crying woman complained to her neighbours about her plight, angry locals took to the streets shouting slogans against the police. Some police personnel allegedly wrapped up the body of the victim and, after autopsy, even tried to cremate it hurriedly, the grieving mother told the media. "The autopsy report is expected within two or three days," said Senior Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar.

Just yesterday, I had posted a piece regarding a similar affair in Kolkata wherein one Aminul in Bengal had to commit suicide because of harassment by the police who instead of arresting the rapist was harassing him and the victim of the rape.

It seems the police from Kanya Kumari to Kashmir and from Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat, are the same everywhere.

The close nexus between criminals, police and politicians is making the life of ordinary people of India, very difficult.

They are turning to arms and then the government calls them Maoists when they themselves are responsible for the creation of Maoists.

The Supreme has tried to rectify it by asking the government make changes but the government drags its feet since a large percentage of politicians have criminal record. It is now up to the election commission and the Supreme Court to stop the entry of politicians into the Assembly and Parliament.