Varanasi: Police in Varanasi have refused to confirm whether the alleged 2 November attack on an IIT-BHU student — on the campus of the premier university — is now being investigated as a “gang rape”, instead of “molestation”, as the FIR initially stated.
Varanasi Police have admitted that they have added “some IPC sections” to the FIR after recording the victim’s statement.
However, police commissioner Ashok Mutha Jain neither confirmed nor denied a news report that quoted him as saying that the sections added were those pertaining to gang rape (IPC 376-d) and insult to the modesty of women (509).
Police reluctance to confirm the exact nature of the investigation comes amid allegations by IIT-BHU students that there were attempts to convince the victim to remove references to sexual assault from her complaint.
The FIR in the case was filed on 2 November, under IPC sections 354-b (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 506 (criminal intimidation) and the IT Act.
In a report Thursday, The Times of India quoted Mutha Jain as saying that sections 376-d (gang rape) and 509 (insulting modesty of woman) had been added to the FIR on technical grounds.
Reached for comment by ThePrint Thursday, he said that “some sections have been increased in the case and the court has been informed”, but did not comment on the news report.
“Some sections have been increased and the court has been informed after the victim’s statement was recorded under CrPC 164 (statement before magistrate) and CrPC 161 (statement before police),” he added.
Asked about the news report, he said the police “does not share investigation proceedings with the media”.
The FIR was filed after a 19-year-old student complained that she was disrobed, molested and videographed by three unidentified men about 400 metres from the Karmanveer Baba temple on the IIT-BHU premises.
The men, the complainant said, had arrived on a motorcycle when she was out for a walk with a male friend at 1.30 am.
According to the 2 November FIR, accessed by ThePrint, she alleged that the accused first separated her from her friend, then took her into a corner after gagging her.
“When I shouted for help, they threatened to kill me. They snatched my phone and kept me for 10-15 minutes after which they left me. I ran towards my hostel from there when I heard a bike approaching,” she has been quoted as saying.
“I hid myself in a professor’s house where I stayed for 20 minutes. After that I contacted my professor and he dropped me till the gate of his house from where Rahul Rathore of the students’ parliament security committee took me to the IIT-BHU patrolling guards,” she said.
Police had not got the girl’s medical examination conducted immediately after the incident. It was done after she recorded her statement before the magistrate this week.
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‘Mentions of sexual assault removed’
Earlier Thursday, speaking to mediapersons, police commissioner Mutha Jain said the girl’s statement had been recorded under CrPC sections 161 and 164, and a medical examination conducted.
“The court is being informed about whatever facts are coming to the fore. Legal opinion has been sought and investigation is on,” he said.
When questioned by the media about the IPC sections added, he gave the same response — that he will “not share any details in connection with the investigation and he has informed the court”.
Asked by reporters about rumours alleging the involvement of an IIT-BHU student in the case, he re-emphasised that he would not respond to any fact or question connected with the probe.
Speaking to ThePrint Wednesday, IIT-BHU students’ parliament vice-president Pranav Suresh had said that the police, after recording the victim’s statement twice, came back for “a fresh statement Monday”.
“The police officers came with a statement and asked the victim to sign it but she denied it,” he alleged. “The police are trying to change the statement of the victim. All mentions of sexual assault were missing from that statement,” he said.
ThePrint called and texted Varanasi Police Commissioner Ashok Mutha Jain for a comment on these allegations. A response is awaited.
IIT-BHU students had Wednesday led a march against the failure of Varanasi Police to arrest anyone in the case, and to demand justice for the victim.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)