Haryana govt orders probe into Murthal rapes during Jat stir

The Haryana government on Friday set up a committee consisting of three women officers, including a deputy inspector general, for receiving any complaint of rape of women in Murthal near Sonepat during the Jat stir.

Additional Chief Secretary of Haryana P K Das said a three-member committee of women police officers has been set up for receiving complaints.

The women police officers are DIG Rajshree Singh, DSP Bharti Dabas and DSP Surinder Kaur, he said. The state government has also set up a helpline number -- 18001802057 -- whereby any person having information about any such incident can share it with the authorities, he said.

Das said the Haryana government was ready to cooperate with statutory bodies like Human Rights Commission and appealed to the public to provide any information they have in this regard to police.

Haryana DGP Y P Singhal said police have not received any such complaint yet but will act swiftly as and when any case is reported.

“No report of any such incident has been received so far. No eyewitness has contacted police. The state government and police are fully sensitive and we will act swiftly if anyone provides any information in this regard," Singhal said.

He said no concrete evidence has been found so far that could prove sexual assault on or rape of women in Murthal near Sonepat by arsonists.

"Till now, there is no confirmation of this incident. But we will probe the matter with full sensitivity and compassion," he said. Rejecting reports that local police officers were allegedly suppressing information of sexual assault, the DGP said no officer at the lower level could suppress any complaint. "It is a sensitive matter and the chief minister is seized of it," he said.

"Thirty deaths have so far been reported in the Jat stir but the situation is now normal in the state. A total of 713 first information reports have been registered, while 133 people arrested in this connection," he said.

The committee has been set up to widen the scope of information gathering with regard to the incident, the DGP said.

Singal said, "The women officers would be available in Sonepat till further orders and anyone can give them information with regard to the incident which can be in the form of audio or video clips and photographs."

He said the identity of the informer would be kept a secret.

"The Punjab and Haryana high court too, while taking suo motu cognisance of a news report, has directed chief judicial magistrates of every district to gather information in this regard," he said.

Singal said, "Initially, the principal secretary of the Haryana government and the inspector general of police had visited the spot of the incident and the nearby area, but no evidence of occurrence of any such incident could be found."

Clothes spotted at the site have been collected by the superintendent of police, Sonipat, and further probe is on, he said.

Asked about the situation in the state, Singal said, "Normalcy is fast returning. All railway tracks and highways are functional and withdrawal of army will begin on Friday and continue in a phased manner".

Image: Demonstrators from the Jat community sit on top of a school bus as they block the Delhi-Haryana national highway during a protest at Sampla village in Haryana. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters