In a shocking development in the Moga district of Punjab, a teenage basketball player suffered multiple fractures as she was pushed off the stadium roof after she resisted a rape attempt by three youths. The incident took place on 12th August 2022. According to reports, the 18-year-old girl was admitted to a private hospital in Ludhiana for treatment of injuries to both her legs and her jaw. According to her father, the accused is her ‘good friend’ who along with two others had pushed her off the roof after she resisted their rape attempt.
The police sources said that all the three accused in this incident are still absconding and the police are searching for them. Gulneet Khurana, senior superintendent of police in Moga, stated on Thursday that raids are being conducted to apprehend the suspects.
In his complaint, the victim’s father said that his daughter had gone to the Moga stadium to practice. The father in the complaint said that he received a call from an unknown person at around 7:30 pm, who asked him to reach the city’s civil hospital as his daughter was brought there following an accident. In the FIR, he also revealed that the accused Jatin Kanda and his daughter were good friends.
“Jatin Kanda among others took the 18-year-old basketball player forcibly to the stadium where the three accused tried to sexually assault her and when she resisted, she was pushed from the roof of the stadium,” the father mentioned in the FIR.
Earlier when the girl was admitted at the hospital following the incident, it was assumed to be an attempt to suicide case. But now it has been revealed that it was an attempt to rape case.
Jatin Kanda, one of the suspects, is charged with trying to rape her at the stadium. He reportedly shoved her off from a height of around 25 feet as she fought and attempted to flee, gravely injuring her in several places. Jatin and his two accomplices have been charged under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 307 (attempt to kill) and 376 (rape).
The law and order situation in Punjab has become a matter of concern since the new government is formed in the state. In the state assembly elections held in February 2022, Aam Aadmi Party got a clear majority and it formed a government led by Bhagwant Mann. In May 2022, Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala was murdered just one day after his security was removed by the state government.
