India probes gang rape of women during caste agitation in Haryana

The local government of north India's Haryana Friday formed a four-member committee to probe gang rape allegations that were reported during the recent caste protests in state.

"Government is taking the reported incident of gang rape with women near a dhaba (makeshift restaurant) at Murthal in Sonepat district seriously and has constituted a four member committee headed by a Deputy Inspector General (police) to probe the incident," Haryana Police Chief Yash Pal Singhal said during a press conference in Chandigarh.

The news report about gang rape of women appeared in a Chandigarh based local English daily - The Tribune. According to the newspaper, at least 10 women passengers were dragged out of vehicles into the nearby fields and raped. The newspaper alleged that the victims and their families were advised by the district officials not to report the matter to anyone "for the sake of their honor".

However, police has rejected newspaper report and said they have not received information about the gang rape.

"District authorities have not reported any such incident and nobody has come personally to police with any complaint," Singhal said. "The committee formed now include three women police officers and they will stay at Sonepat during the probe so that victims of alleged sexual assault can approach them for complaint."

Singhal appealing for leads in the case said that the identity of complainant women would not be disclosed.

"Police has recovered some clothes from nearby fields and they are trying to ascertain the identity of the person to whom they belong and whether anything happened to them," he said.

At least 19 people were killed and over 200 injured in the recent violence that rocked the state . The agitators belonging to Jat community demanding reservation as backwards resorted to arson and targeted shops, malls, vehicles, government buildings, petrol pump and railway stations, besides looting an armoury. Locals alleged the protesters also resorted to looting the merchandise from shops.

In India quotas for lower castes and economically weaker sections are guaranteed constitutionally.

Though Jats are currently listed as upper caste but they are demanding the status of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), citing the quotas for other lower castes puts them at a disadvantage.

The previous government in Haryana had announced "Special Backward Caste" for the Jats in 2013, but the Punjab and Haryana High Court stalled the move last year.

India's Supreme Court has rejected inclusion of Jats in the list of OBC list on the ground that India's commission of backward castes does not consider Jats socially and economically backward in Haryana.

Analysts say quotas push people in India to an advantage in government jobs, education and other fields. Endit