Trio rapes ailing U.P. woman over two days at LTT; two arrested

Victim violated in the name of help

A 35-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh, who had fled to Mumbai after having a fight with her husband, was raped by three men over the course of two days on the premises of the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT). The Tilak Nagar police have arrested two of the three accused so far.

According to the Tilak Nagar police, the incident came to light when the police received a call about a woman lying in a semi-conscious state at LTT on Thursday night. The woman told the team that reached the spot that she had been raped multiple times. She was then rushed to Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar. The police immediately registered a case against unidentified persons and started inquiries into the matter.

Victim’s statement

Police Inspector Sarita Chavan said, “Initially, the woman was disoriented and gave confusing statements. She said multiple men had assaulted her at the same time. Later, when her condition stabilised, she was able to recount the entire sequence of events in a coherent manner.”

According to the victim’s statement, she lived with her husband, son and two daughters at her brother-in-law’s house in Prithvipur in U.P. After having an argument with her husband, she took a train to Nagpur. She then changed trains and reached LTT on Tuesday. By then, she was hungry, weak, and suffering from high fever. With no friends or relatives in the city, she was forced to seek help from strangers at the station for food and medicines.

Ulterior motives

An officer with the Tilak Nagar police said, “Two men gave her food and later she started vomiting. They duo asked her to rest on the staircase of a bridge at the station and left. The woman said one of the men returned at 9 p.m. and forced himself on her. Another man then raped her at 1.30 a.m. on Wednesday.”

The officer said the woman spent the whole of Wednesday begging for food at the station. At night, a third man approached her and offered to take her to a doctor. However, he took her to the tracks near Nehru Nagar in Kurla, raped her and abandoned her there.

Ms. Chavan said, “Based on the CCTV camera footage on the station premises and an eyewitness account, we have arrested two persons so far. We are on the lookout for the third accused.”

The accused have been identified as Dipu Gautam and Abdul Sheikh. They have been charged with rape and criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code. “The victim will remain under our protection till all the accused are arrested,” Ms. Chavan said.