By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 30 Oct: Six days after registration of an FIR under the POCSO Act, the accused, S Uniyal, is yet to be arrested by the Doiwala Police even as the victim’s family is alleging they have received threats from him.
The victim is currently 17 years old and is a resident of Harrawala Police Chowki jurisdiction. She has alleged that the accused has raped her repeatedly since August 2017 and used to threaten her with dire consequences in case she told her family about the crime. Speaking to Garhwal Post, the victim’s father, a milkman, alleged that the accused was threatening the family with dire consequences and asking them to withdraw their complaint. He also lamented that the Police were not very helpful and had failed to act against the accused despite the complaint. Usually in such cases, swift action is expected but the hesitation on part of the Police to immediately arrest the accused does raise some questions regarding the motive behind the delay.
The accused is a driver and is stated to be previously employed with a prestigious paramedical institute. The sexual harassment of the victim started when she was just 14 years old and she is still a minor.
Yet, the Police has neither arrested the accused nor interrogated him in the past 6 days since the FIR has been registered. The victim’s family has alleged that the Police have not shown any keen interest in arresting the accused and move ahead with the investigation into the case.
Apprehensive over the Police lack of seriousness to act against the rape accused, the victim’s family was forced to approach the State Child Rights Commission and also the district court, which today directed immediate arrest of the rape accused.
Meanwhile, speaking to Garhwal Post, the Police Officials from Doiwala Police Station admitted that the FIR in this case had been filed on 24 October and that, so far, no arrests had been made in the case. They however claimed that the Police would soon take “appropriate action” in the case. They further said that the arrest would also be made if the court had directed it.
