By Omar Rashid
New Delhi: Weeks after it demolished a shopping complex and a bakery owned by a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader over allegations of rape in Ayodhya, the police administration in the high profile district is under fire for allegedly delaying action after a Dalit girl employed as a sanitation worker in the Ram Janmabhoomi complex was allegedly gangraped.
Talking to television media channels, the victim has alleged that when she went to lodge a complaint against the accused persons, the local police station officer initially tried to dissuade her from pursuing legal action and that the case got registered only after she approached senior officers.
Ayodhya police, facing widespread criticism on social media after the girl’s statement was widely shared, has dismissed the allegations and said that the girl’s statement was registered before a judicial magistrate according to due process.
“No police personnel is present there,” said Ayodhya police.
So far, the police have arrested seven persons in connection with the crime — Sharik and two minors on charges of gangrape; Vinay Pasi, Shiva Sonkar, Udit Singh and Satyam for molestation.
In her statement to the media, the girl said that eight persons were involved in the crime. The Wire cannot independently verify the content of her police complaint or her judicial statement, as the police has not made the FIR or the sections invoked in it available.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.