Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday took cognisance of the incident involving the alleged gang-rape of a 22-year-old married woman from Chandigarh at a guest house in Morni in Haryana’s Panchkula district.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Arun Palli put the state of Haryana on notice while treating the matter as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
The court directed the Haryana Government to submit a status report in the alleged gang-rape case in ten days.
Haryana’s Assistant Advocate General, Sharad Aggarwal, who was present in court, accepted the notice on behalf of the state.
The next date of hearing was fixed for August 13.
The woman had alleged that she was raped for four consecutive days after being held captive at a guest house in Morni area of Haryana’s Panchkula district.
However, in a twist to the alleged gang-rape of the 22-year-old married woman from Chandigarh case, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Haryana Police had yesterday arrested her husband and booked him for immoral trafficking.
The woman’s husband was booked under various provisions of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act as also under Section 370 IPC (buying or disposing of any person as a slave).
Police investigations had found that two key accused, already arrested in the alleged gang-rape case, were running a sex racket.
The accused husband was produced before a court in Panchkula yesterday, which remanded him to three days in police custody.
Earlier, ten people were arrested in the alleged gang-rape case.
In a complaint lodged with the Chandigarh Police at Manimajra police station on Thursday, the woman had alleged that she was held captive for four days where the accused numbering 40 took turns to rape her.
The woman’s husband, now under arrest, had earlier told reporters that she was promised a job at the guest house by a person known to them, adding she was drugged for four days, raped and threatened that the couple would be “eliminated” if she revealed the incident to anyone.
The Chandigarh Police had lodged an FIR in Manimajra police station after the woman approached them with the complaint.
She had alleged that Haryana Police had failed to take cognisance of her complaint initially when she approached the women police station in Panchkula.
The Panchkula Police had later set up a Special Investigation Team under IPS officer Dr Anshu Singla, who is currently posted as ASP, Panchkula, to probe the alleged gang-rape incident. — PTI
