West Bengal woman allegedly raped by 2 men she accompanied to Tikri; Hry police SIT to probe case

The Haryana Police is probing an allegation that a woman from West Bengal, who died after showing COVID-like symptoms, at a hospital here had been raped by two men she had accompanied to a farmers' protest site at the Tikri border.

Police on Sunday formed a special investigation team after the woman's father alleged she was raped when she had gone to the border point with some members of an outfit which is supporting the protest against the Centre's new farm laws.

In a complaint to police on Saturday, the father said on April 10, she travelled from Bengal to Tikri, which is on the Haryana-Delhi border, officials said.

On the intervening night of April 25 and 26, the 25-year-old woman was admitted to a hospital in Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar district after she developed COVID-like symptoms, they said.

''She passed away on April 30,'' Bahadurgarh Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Vijay Kumar said over phone.

Following the complaint of the woman's father, the Haryana Police has registered a rape case against the two persons.

The special investigation team (SIT) is being headed by a deputy superintendent-rank official from Bahadurgarh and it will further probe the entire incident, Kumar said.

''As per the complaint given by her father on Saturday, on April 10, his daughter travelled from West Bengal to Tikri border with some people, who are part of an outfit supporting the ongoing farmers agitation, and reached a day later at the venue of the stir,'' the SHO said.

Police are yet to release the name of the outfit.

Kumar said according to the complainant, when she reached Tikri, she was allegedly sexually assaulted by two persons who were part of the outfit supporting the ongoing stir. The woman had told her father about the incident and shared details of it with him over phone, he said.

Days after the alleged incident, the woman fell ill and ''on April 25-26, she was admitted to a private hospital in Bahadurgarh with COVID-like symptoms'', Kumar said.

''She died during treatment. The hospital authorities have told us they treated her as a COVID-19 patient. We have applied for documents, which are awaited and only after we get them can we confirm if her death was COVID-related,'' he said. Several farmers are protesting against the farm laws at border points of Delhi, including Tikri and Singhu, since November last year.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)