Muzaffarnagar gang-rape case reopened after SC directive

The Special Investigation Team, probing the Muzaffarnagar riot cases, has reopened a gang-rape case of Phugana village in the district, following a directive by the Supreme Court.

Appearing before a woman magistrate on Thursday, the gang-rape victim recorded her statement and admitted of being gangraped by five men in Phugana village.

According to SIT officials, a final report was filed by the SIT on the basis of the victim's earlier statement where she had turned hostile.

The case has been reopened on the directive of the Supreme Court, which had ordered that statement of victims in all gang-rape cases in Phugana village be recorded again before a woman magistrate, SIT sources said.

Five persons are accused of allegedly gang-raping a 30-year-old woman in Phugana village during communal riots in Muzaffaranagar and its adjoining districts last year.

SIT officials further added that the victim had admitted that she had given the first statement under pressure and that the accused men had threatened her of dire consequences if she admitted of being raped.

The victim's family was displaced from Phugana and rehabilitated in Loee village in the district.

The police had registered six separate gang-rape cases against 27 people in Phugana village in September last year.

The SIT had found 22 persons involved in five cases. Two accused have been arrested by the police, while 20 are still at large.

Meanwhile, a local court has initiated attachment proceedings against 20 absconding accused.     

Around 60 people died and thousands were displaced from their homes in last year's communal violence in Muzaffarnagar and neighbouring villages of Western Uttar Pradesh.