"Nobody should trouble her after this," is the only plea of a mother whose daughter was harassed by a mob and assaulted by the police. The daughter's crime? Visiting the apartment of a male friend from her own college.
The girl and the boy are both students of a nursing college in Meerut. However, while the girl is Hindu, the boy is Muslim. This did not go down well with either the mob – members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad– or the UP police.
In a video that went viral in September, four police personnel seated in their official van are seen hurling abuses at the girl.
A police woman also goes on to thrash her and yank her scarf off her face, while a police man asks: "Mulla zada pasand aa raha hai tujhe?" (You like the Muslim man better?). This incident took place, right after the police picked the girl and the boy up from the boy's house where VHP members had barged in and started attacking them.
The Quint visited her parents at their home in Hapur.
In conversation, the girl's mother said:
“Both the children were studying in that house. There was one more girl with them, who later went to the market.”
Following the violence inflicted by the mob, the police showed up and took the boy and the girl away in seperate vans. When the girl's parents went to pick her up from the police station, they found VHP members gathered there.
The girl and the boy had reportedly been harassed by the members at the police station, as well. The VHP members, as told by the girl's mother, also tried to shame her daughter before her.
“But we know our daughter, we know everything about her. We told them, we don’t want to listen to you and then went to speak to our daughter.”The girl’s mother
“Cops Wanted Us to Frame the Boy”
While the police were finally willing to let the girl go, her parents said they wanted them to file a complaint against the boy.
“When we asked the police to let our daughter go they said, “No. File a report against the boy first.” When we told them we don’t want to do that, they said, “No. The boy is Muslim. You must report him.””The girl’s mother
But the girl's parents say they refused to comply.
“We said no to that. It doesn’t matter if he is Muslim or Hindu, he is a student. When he did not do anything wrong, why should we file any report against him?”The girl’s mother
The girl had previously told ANI, that a woman at the police station had even asked her to file a rape complaint against the boy.
‘Whatever the Government Wants Will Happen’
On being asked if they would like to file a complaint against the police, the mother said she had left the matter in the hands of the government.
“Whatever the government wants will happen.”
The mother's sole interest is that her daughter goes back to college and finishes her education as she’s in her final year and soon to graduate.
Pointing out that whatever her 20-year-old has gone through in the past few days cannot be undone, the mother said:
“All we want is that my daughter should not be defamed any further.”
The girl's family refused to disclose their identity.
Four police personnel involved in the incident have been suspended from their duties.
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