A woman from West Bengal was allegedly raped by two men who accompanied her while she was travelling to the Tikri border for participating in the farmers' protest, according to an FIR filed by her father. The FIR names the two men as Anoop and Anil Malik who run the ‘Kisan Social Army’.
The 25-year-old woman later died due to a Covid-19 infection at a Delhi hospital, according to police.
Six persons including the two main accused have been named in the FIR. The police said that they are after the accused men and have formed a team to look into the matter after the victim's father filed the FIR.
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The woman travelled from Bengal on April 10 along with a group of people with the intention of joining the farmers’ protest against the new farm laws, the complaint filed by her father said.
On April 26, after showing COVID symptoms, she was admitted to a hospital in the Jhajjar district, the police said.
"The woman was admitted to a hospital in Jhajjar district with Covid symptoms on April 26. She died April 30. The woman's father then filed a case of rape against two men," Bahadurgarh police officer Vijay Kumar was quoted as saying by NDTV.
The woman narrated the ordeal to her father on phone who then filed a case of rape against the two men, the officer said.
"She died during treatment. The hospital authorities have told us they treated her as a Covid patient. We have applied for documents, which are awaited and only after we get them can we confirm if her death was Covid-related," Mr Kumar said.
The Samyukt Kisam Morcha (SKM) which has been organizing the protests at Tikri later put out a statement in which it said that it will "take this fight for justice to its logical conclusion".
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"This case concerns a woman who came from Bengal to join Kisan movements along with some persons posing to be 'Kisan Social Army'. She was assaulted by some of these persons on the way to Delhi and after reaching the Tikri border... When this came to the notice of the SKM, we decided to take the strictest possible action. Four days ago, the Tikri committee of SKM had already removed the tents and banners of the so-called 'Kisan Social Army'," the farmers' body said in the statement.
