In yet another shocking case from Mewat (Haryana)/West UP belt which has not made it to national news, a minor Hindu girl was kidnapped & gang raped, before being sold off for Rs. 2.5 lakhs and forcibly converted to Islam. The girl is a resident of Mamolaka village, Hathin, district Palwal, Haryana.

Out of the 3 accused – Rizwan, Naseem, Jamshed – only one, Rizwan, has been arrested thus far. Victim’s brother has expressed dissatisfaction with the police probe. He has lodged a complaint at the Haryana CM window and demanded that all accused be arrested. Naseem and Jamshed are residents of Mamolaka village while another accused is from Tapookda, Alwar, Rajasthan.

In his complaint, the brother has said that his sister was kidnapped on 1 July, 2017. She was then gang-raped by the 3 accused, before being sold off for Rs. 2.5 lakhs in Noorpur, Bijnore district, UP. There she was converted to Islam and married off to another person and raped by him.

The victim somehow managed to escape after 45 days and narrated her harrowing ordeal. Hathin police recorded her statement under IPC Section 164 in front of a magistrate.

The victim’s family is alleging that one policeman in particular is putting pressure on them and trying to protect the accused. SHO Devendra Singh said that police is investigating the matter and they have also visited the place where the girl was sold.

Palwal district, which has 20% Muslim population as per Census 2011, is adjacent to Muslim-majority Mewat district in Haryana. Mewat is notorious for illegal cow smuggling mafia, over 100 criminal gangs and terror links – it is considered a dangerous ‘no-go’ zone even for police.

Last year, when there was a horrific case of robbery, murder and gang-rape in Mewat, the story was covered widely by English language media as the victims were Muslim. Victims confirmed that few of the assailants were in underclothes and smeared with oil, a modus operandi of the dreaded  Kachcha Baniyan gang. Yet, a few weeks after the crime, a visit by professional social activist Shabnam Hashmi led to victims alleging that they were raped for eating beef, hinting at involvement of gau rakshaks. After that, the MSM outrage went off the charts.

Now that a gory kidnapping, gang rape and forced conversion case involving a minor Hindu girl has come to light from the same region, will MSM and Lutyens’ civil society take an equal interest in this case? Don’t hold your breath for it.

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