By IANS,
Lucknow : A day after four girls alleged rape by a group of Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) troopers in Uttar Pradesh, three of the girls Wednesday backtracked on their charge, the police said.
The alleged rape of the girls took place Tuesday in Shravasti district, some 160 km from here.
Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Brij Lal said: “Preliminary investigation by the local police revealed that the charge was false.”
“Only one of the four alleged rape victims stuck to her allegation against SSB troopers stationed along the Indo-Nepal border, from where the incident was reported Tuesday,” Lal said.
However, not ruling out the possibility of the denial coming under duress, Lal has ordered statements of each of the four girls be recorded afresh.
“I have asked the local police not only to record the statement of the girls afresh but also to do a videography of the statement recording,” Lal said.
SSB Director General O.P.S. Malik told IANS by telephone from New Delhi: “Even as our own officers are looking into the case, we have to go by the investigation carried out by the local police. In case they are able to establish the involvement of SSB troopers in the rape, I am the last one to spare any one of them.”