Gangrape victim identifies accused from voice

Neighbours involved in crime; father suspects personal vendetta to be reason behind sexual assault on 7-year-old.

Big concern:“This is the first time that I am worried for my children. Now we will always live in fear. Our trust in our neighbours has been killed,” says the victim’s father.Photo: Special Arrangement

: The accused in the Yamuna Khadar gangrape case were arrested after the seven-year-old victim identified them from their voices.

Two of the accused, Amir and Bhim, are the victim’s neighbours. “My daughter would often come across them on her way to school. So, she instantly recognised them when they were speaking among themselves at the time of the crime,” the victim’s father told The Hindu .

The third accused, Bhure, is a friend of the two youths.

Tactic

According to the police, the youths had masked themselves to conceal their identities.

They also blindfolded the sleeping girl when they carried her to a nearby forested area. There, they allegedly took turns to rape her.

However, when the girl fell unconscious and started bleeding heavily, the panic-stricken men dropped her near her hut, said the police.

“My daughter returned home, and woke us up. She was trembling and barely being able to speak, but she mentioned Amir and Bhim as her perpetrators before falling unconscious again,” her father said.

Help arrives

He then sought his neighbours’ help. “Initially they did not believe me. Only when they visited my home and saw her soaking in blood, did one of them call the police,” the father said.

According to him, the girl was writhing in stomach pain, and was not in a position to even attend to nature’s call.

The police were quick to rush the girl to a local hospital which referred her to AIIMS. She is now believed to be out of danger.

Amir and Bhim were immediately arrested from their homes.

Their interrogation revealed the identity of the third accused, and he was arrested soon.

Revenge sought?

The girl’s father, meanwhile, has suspected vendetta to be the driving force behind the gangrape.

He said his son and Amir were involved in a fight on Rakshabandhan.

“They were involved in a scuffle over the speed of my son’s motorcycle, but we had sorted out the matter. They could have targeted my daughter in retaliation for that fight,” said the father.

Fingers point at father

He alleged that the family of one of the accused had approached him after the incident and accused him of framing the youths.

“I just told them that I did not name them. It was my daughter who identified them,” the father said.