11 years after eloping, men charged with rape

CHANDIGARH: Rajender and Parveen had eloped with their lovers 11 years ago from a village in Karnal district. Now, though leading married lives with children, the Haryana police have slapped rape cases against them, in addition to the abduction charge that was filed over a decade ago.

The two were arrested on March 31 and are in judicial custody, leaving the two families shattered. The two had been declared proclaimed offenders. The bail applications of the two will be heard in a Karnal court on Monday.

“The rape charge was slapped on Rajender and Parveen on the suspicion that they may have had physical relationship with the two girls when they were minors,” said Jitender Rana, inspector of the Indri police station in Karnal district.

Rana, however, said that he was not aware of the age of the children, which could have decided conclusively whether there was a physical relationship while the girls were minors.

A case of abduction was registered in 2001 against Rajender and Pardeep, who are married to sisters Geeta and Reena, daughters of Jai Bhagwan, a farmer, for “abducting minors” on the complaint of the girls’ parents. After marriage, the two couples had returned to their village, Bhadso, and have been living there ever since.

“Rajender, 35, is married to Geeta, who is 30 and has a six-year-old son. Reena is 31 and is married to Parveen, 36. They have a son who is eight and a daughter who is six,” claimed Rajender and Parveen’s lawyer, Harish Arya.

When contacted, Gurdayal Singh, DSP Indri, confirmed the arrests.

“The girls were minor at the time of registration of case and none of them ever joined the investigations, hence case was still open,” said Indri DSP Gurdayal Singh.