India to provides Five Lakh compensation

BARDIYA, March 2: The Indian government has declared that it will provide Rs 500,000 as compensation to the family of a 28-year-old mentally challenged woman from Rajapur-10 in Bardiya who was raped and murdered in Rothak in Haryana, India.

The victim’s relatives said that Haryana’s Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar made such announcement after police charged eight men, including a Nepali national, for the crime.

Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent of Police Shashank Anand of Rohtak Police has informed Superintendent of Police Govinda Ram Pariyar in Bardiya that the perpetrators have been remanded into custody for further investigation. The accused are Nepali national Santosh BK of Pyuthan and Mandir Singh, Pramod Jath, Sunil Jath, Sarowar Singh, Rajesh Jath, Sunil Singh and Pawan of Rothak. According to the victim’s relatives.

One of the perpetrators, Sombir Jath, committed suicide after the incident. A group of nine men had gang-raped and subsequently murdered the woman on February 1. Police had found her body four days later in a field by a highway at Bahu Ahkbarpur near Rohtak. “We haven’t yet received DNA test results and are yet to find an advocate to fight the case on our behalf,” the victim’s sister Janaki said, adding that they are trying to find a lawyer on their own though the state government will appoint one for the same. Legal practitioner, however, are unwilling to fight for the case in fear of local goons.

Janaki, meanwhile, said local authorities have provided security to her family as they were under constant threats from local criminal gangs. She and her husband earn a living operating a small mobile food stall in the Indian city. The victim had gone to Rothak in order to seek treatment for her mental disorder.

Janaki said various organisations representing Nepalis living in India have been helping them with the case.