Gamharia police station rape case: family says survivor is a minor

A woman says she was raped inside a police station in Jharkhand, and the case has now taken a new turn. Her family has told police she is a minor, Dainik Jagran reported on Thursday (5 November). Fifteen police personnel at the Gamharia police station in Seraikela-Kharsawan district have already been suspended, and three, including the main accused, are in judicial custody.

According to police, the woman came to the Gamharia police station late last month after a dispute with her husband. She was asked to wait in a room inside the station, where a wireless operator allegedly raped her, Hindustan Times reported. She filed a written complaint on 31 October.

The wireless operator, Neeraj Lakra, was arrested on Saturday (31 October). Sub-inspector Manoj Kumar Sahu, who was the officer on duty, and constable Santosh Kumar Rai were also arrested, The Times of India and ANI reported. All three have been sent to judicial custody.

Seraikela-Kharsawan Superintendent of Police Manoj Swargiary suspended the station’s staff in two rounds. Six personnel, including the station in-charge, were suspended on Saturday, and nine more, including two sub-inspectors, four assistant sub-inspectors, two havildars and a constable, on Sunday, for negligence and for not informing senior officers, Hindustan Times and The Times of India reported. A new officer has been put in charge of the station.

A special investigation team led by Seraikela SDPO Anubhav Bhardwaj is probing the case. “Acting promptly on the instructions, a team was constituted; the accused were apprehended and have since been remanded to judicial custody. All necessary legal procedures have been followed step-by-step,” Bhardwaj told ANI.

The new development came on Wednesday. Members of the woman’s family arrived at the police station from Odisha with a human rights group and said she is a minor who had been missing from home for six months, Dainik Jagran reported. She had told police she was 20. Police are now checking her real age and documents, and her husband has been detained for questioning about how she came to Gamharia, the paper said. Some local outlets have reported that her age has been confirmed and POCSO sections added, but police have not said this publicly yet.

The National Commission for Women has written to Jharkhand’s Director General of Police asking for a fair probe and an action-taken report within seven days. The District Legal Services Authority has offered the survivor free legal aid and compensation, Dainik Jagran reported.