Patiala: A 17-year-old in Patiala who had been gang-raped has committed suicide because the police allegedly embarrassed her and refused to register a case for over a month.
The teen was sexually assaulted on Diwali by two men. Though her family was threatened by the alleged rapists, they decided to file a police case two weeks after the attack.
The family alleges that the cops refused to register a case; they summoned the teen repeatedly to the police station and humiliated her. "The police started pressuring her to either reach a financial settlement with her attackers or marry one of them," her sister said today.
On Wednesday night, she was found dead at home; she drank poison to kill herself, the police said.
The police officer running the station where she tried to get her case filed has been fired for dereliction of duty; another cop has been suspended. Her two alleged rapists were arrested today along with another man and woman accused of serving as accomplices.
Since a medical student in Delhi was gang-raped on a bus on December 16, students and women activists have been holding near-daily protests, demanding a slew of changes to check sexual crimes against women.
They want better safety for women; fast-track courts to ensure rape cases are tried quickly; and more serious punishment for rapists.
Activists and experts also point out how inept and insensitive police officers are when handling victims of sexual crimes; sensitisation and training are urgently needed, they say, to ensure women who have the courage to report sexual assault are not further traumatised by police officers.
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