Thaindian News

By Tahir Nadeem Khan
Jammu, Feb 4 (ANI): A 31-year-old pregnant Gujjar woman has told police at the Baderwah Police Station in Jammu and Kashmirs Doda District that she was repeatedly gang raped by Lashkar-e-Toiba militants for two months. High drama was witnessed at the police station in Baderwah when the woman, Shah Bano Begum, identified one of the militants Imitiyaz during an identification parade. She thrashed him in front of the policemen and broke down.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Doda, Prabhat Singh said some of the suspects were brought to police station for identification.
“When she saw the militant among the crowd, she raised an alarm and thrashed him. It took us some time to cool her down and bring situation under control,” he said.
Shah Bano Begum says that she had been pregnant for five months when the militants raped her.
She said that she did not immediately lodge any formal complaint with the police fearing a reprisal from the terrorists.
“Due to social stigma and fear, many female victims do not lodge a police complaint. We have arrested Imitiyaz and a hunt is on to look for other militants responsible for this gruesome act,” Singh said.
Details of the gruesome incident surfaced following circulation of news that Imitiyaz had been arrested. Shah Bano Begum husband, Mohammad Shafi, immediately approached the police station and informed about the rape. The police later asked him to bring his wife for the identification parade where she identified Imitiyaz.
She has also named other Lashkar militants Ashiq Hussain alias Abu Umair, Mohammad Ashraf alias Abu Jehadi and Mudassar Hussain alias Abu Furqan, all locals of Baderwah, as being the ones who raped her.
Police have now registered a case under Sections 376, 452 of the Ranbir Penal Code and 7/25 Arms Act. “Hunt is on to nab the other ultras responsible for the incident,” Kumar said.
“They were four people when they came to my home in summer. They forced my husband out of the house and then raped me. I pleaded before them that I was pregnant, it hardly did have an effect on them,” said Shah Bano Begum, the victim.
She said they later used to call her to their hideout threatening of dire consequences if she would not oblige.
“I was under pressure from them because they had threatened to kill my family,” she said.
As the police have gained upper hand against militants in the erstwhile Doda district, victims of terrorism are coming forward to lodge their complaints against those gunmen who have meted out atrocities on them.
The people have been providing information to the police about the presence of militants, and women, who bore maximum brunt of the terrorists, are also coming forward to narrate their tale of woes.
Singh said militants had physically exploited a number of women at gunpoint in erstwhile Doda district.
While pointing towards recent killings of some commanders of the terrorist outfits, said it was all due to the local support that the forces had eliminated these commanders. (ANI)