MP: Hindu girl students sexually exploited, says NHRC

Bhopal, May 14 (IANS) Member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Priyank Kanoongo said on Wednesday that Hindu girls were being deliberately targeted and sexually exploited in Bhopal.

Kanoongo’s comments came against the backdrop of a high-profile racket of an alleged nexus of love jihad in Bhopal that was busted a few weeks ago, wherein nearly half a dozen girls students of a private engineering college complained that they were sexually exploited by a group of the Muslim community.

He informed that upon receiving information, a team of NHRC arrived in Bhopal to investigate the matter, adding that the NHRC team would carry out an investigation for two days in Bhopal.

He said that half a dozen victims have complained, but the number of victims is expected to increase.

“NHRC would request the victims and their parents to come forward to lodge complaints, while their identity would not be revealed. We had received the complaint, and a preliminary investigation revealed that Hindu girl students were being targeted and were being sexually abused. The accused persons not only sexually exploited them but also videographed, served intoxication and forced them to convert their religion,” Kanoongo told IANS.

Kanoongo further stated that there are several aspects on which an investigation need to be done, adding that the NHRC team would make the entire thing very clear in the next two days.

Meanwhile, he also questioned on Bhopal Police, saying what surprising that the local area police station was located hardly 500 meters away from the college, but the police did not take any action.

"Crime was operating in the city, but the Bhopal Police was sitting quietly. I also have doubts that some evidences were destroyed by the police during their investigation. We will investigate it thoroughly and come out with a concrete report in the next two days," he added.

Notably, after the shocking incident came into the fore a few weeks ago, the Madhya Pradesh government set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of senior police officials to investigate the matter.

So far, five accused have been arrested for allegedly raping girl students by hiding their identities and blackmailing them by making videos.

The main accused in the case, Farhan Ali, was arrested on May 3 in Bhopal.

--IANS

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