By IANS,
Narwana (Haryana) : Congress president Sonia Gandhi arrived in Sachhakhera village near this Haryana town Tuesday morning to meet the family of a minor gang-rape victim who committed suicide last week.
The victim, aged 16, who belonged to a poor, Dalit family, was allegedly gang-raped by two youths from her neighbourhood Saturday. She doused herself with kerosene and set herself on fire soon after the incident.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has so far been maintaining that “no accused would be spared”, was present at the village along with state ministers and top civil and police officers during the visit of the Congress president to the village in Jind district. Gandhi was also accompanied by union minister Kumari Selja.
Police have arrested five people, including a woman and her policeman husband, on suspicion of conspiring with the rapists.
The woman and her husband, a Haryana police constable, had allegedly stood guard outside the house where the victim was gang-raped. She was rushed to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) at Rohtak where she succumbed to burn injuries.
In her dying statement, the victim told the police that she took the extreme step after her gang-rape.
Haryana has seen 12 incidents of gang-rape and rape in the past 28 days.
Hooda had so far not visited any of the victims or their families.