Amid Lok Sabha elections, the Alwar gang-rape case has again become a point of debate between politicians. The case came to light after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday mounted a scathing attack on BSP supremo Mayawati accusing her of “shedding crocodile tears” over the gang-rape incident in Rajasthan’s Alwar.
So what is Alwar gang-rape case?On April 26, in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, the victim was travelling with her husband on a motorcycle when five men on two motorcycles stopped the young Dalit couple. The accused stopped them and took them to an isolated place off the road. The men forced the couple to stop, abused them, and forcibly took the woman — just 18-years-old — behind the sand dunes on the side of the road. They beat the husband and raped the woman in front of him, threatening them of dire consequences. They also beat up the husband, taking away the Rs 2,000 he had with him.
Her husband claimed that he had approached Rajasthan police on April 26 after the incident, but an FIR was filed on May 2. He had alleged that the police did not take action saying that they were busy with elections. The family of the victim has alleged that that though they reported the case on April 30, police didn’t take action till as late as May 7, when they first made their first arrests. By then, an alleged video of the gang rape had been circulated on social media.
What now?After the gang-rape case came to light it caused nationwide outrage. But later it became a political slugfest in on-going Lok Sabha elections. The case has been on the national headlines after the opposition parties held protests against the Rajasthan government for allegedly covering up the matter due to the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
The Accused:As the horrific Alwar gangrape case took a political turn, Rajasthan Police arrested all six accused. Out of six, five men are accused of gang-raping the woman and the sixth man was arrested for allegedly circulating the video of the incident. Alwar rural circle officer Jagmohan Sharma, who is the investigating officer in the case, told the Indian Express that all six are aged between 20-25 years and used to do odd jobs of manual labour to earn their livelihood and their villages are located within a radius of 15-20 kilometres in Alwar district.
All the six accused have been identified as Chotelal Gurjar, Hansraj Gurjar, Indraj Gurjar, Ashok Gurjar, Mahesh Gurjar, and Mukesh Gurjar.
A look at all the accused:
Chotelal Gurjar is the main accused in the case, who worked as a truck driver and does odd jobs. According to the Indian Express, a few months ago, he allegedly also ran an illegal liquor station. He also has previous criminal cases registered against him in Alwar. Hansraj Gurjar is a cousin of Chotelal. On April 26, all the other five accused had come to Hansraj’s house to attend a function. Indraj Gurjar is the brother-in-law of Hansraj. Ashok Gurjar works at a tea stall. Mahesh Gurjar is Ashok’s uncle, who does odd jobs for his living. Mukesh Gurjar: Mukesh works as a labourer on farms and is responsible for spreading the video of the gangrape on social media.
Inputs from Freepressjournal