Ranchi, Oct 9: A 55-year-old woman who had gone to work in the field was gang-raped by two policemen in Serengdag village of Gumla region. The accused attacked her private parts with a sharp object. The woman is battling for life in Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi.
In Palkot town of the same area, 40-year-old Deepak Nayak lured a 9-year-old girl from the neighborhood to a nearby school and raped her. When her family went out in search of the girl, she was found unconscious lying in a pool of blood near the school.
In yet another incident, a minor girl was kidnapped and gang-raped by some men who visisted a Durga Puja pandal in Saraidhohar village of Chinia police station area of Garhwa district.
In Baredih village under Tamad police station of Ranchi, a 55-year-old woman was declared a witch and her own nephew, Jai Swansi, killed her with a sharp object. In Maranghada village of Khunti, Mangra Nag beat his sister-in-law to death with sticks on suspicion of her being a witch.
In Napo Khurd village under Barkagaon police station of Hazaribagh district, a person named Shashi Kumar shot and killed his newly married wife Pooja, who was pregnant.
These incidents of cruelty and violence against women and girls in Jharkhand were reported at a time when the mantras of worship of Goddess Durga were reverberating during the nine days of Navratri. The state seems to have turned into a dreadful place for women to live in.
In Dumka, four horrific crimes were committed against women in last forty days. On August 23, a youth named Shahrukh set a Class 12 student Ankita Singh on fire by sprinkling petrol on her. Ankita succumbed to her injuries after battling for life for five days in a hospital. Ankita’s only fault was that she refused to become friends and converse with Shahrukh.
On September 2, a minor girl was raped and murdered at Sriamda in Dumka’s Diggi OP area and her body was hanging from a tree. The accused, namely Armaan, was sexually abusing her for months on the pretext of marriage.
On September 24, some goons of Aswari village under Saraiyahat block of the same district forced four people including three women to drink urine, accusing them of being witch-exorcists, and burned them with hot iron rods.
The fourth incident happened late on October 6, in Bharatpur Bhalki village of Jarmundi police station area, when a man identified as Rajesh Raut entered 19-year-old Maruti Kumari’s house and set her ablaze by pouring petrol on her. Maruti was asleep at that time and started screaming when she felt her body burning. She saw Rajesh running away while she cried for help. The accused is married, but was still pressurising Maruti’s family for marriage. The victim died on her way to RIMS the next day.
On 7 October, a youth named Pappu Turi set his four-year-old daughter on fire in Kisko police station area of Lohardaga district on suspicion of his wife’s affair with another man. The child suffered 80 per cent burns. (IANS)
