PashantNews
A fortnight after her death, the Uttarakhand Police is virtually facing an uphill task to investigate an alleged gang rape of a woman belonging to the Vanraji tribe, an endangered community in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district.
The 32-year-old woman from Kimkhola village in the district was allegedly gang-raped by some people in a car while she was returning home from Jauljibi market on the evening of November 23 and left unconscious on the roadside. The villagers brought her home where she died after remaining unconscious for two days. The villagers later cremated her body without informing the police about the incident, police sources said.
Nearly a fortnight after the death, a group of local social workers alleged that the woman was gang-raped. This news was widely covered by the media forcing the police to launch an investigation.
No FIR has been lodged in connection with the alleged rape so far. Since the body has already been cremated, the police is facing an uphill task to investigate the matter. “We are investigating the incident,” said Rekha Yadav, Superintendent of Police (SP) Pithoragarh.
Social workers, who are working among the Vanraji community, said these tribes are very shy and hesitate in reporting the matters to the police.
The Vanraji is a tribe in the forests of Uttarakhand with a sparse population. Earlier, they used to live in caves. Now gradually their lifestyle has become like that of other people but they still live in jungles. Their population is also shrinking and people of this tribe are left only in nine villages of Dharchula and Munsiyari blocks of Pithoragarh district. The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs has classified these tribes as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).