Woman gang-raped for demanding alimony

BAREILLY: A woman was allegedly gang-raped by her ex-husband’s uncle and friends for refusing to slash the alimony she had demanded. Her ex-husband has remarried.
The middle aged woman who hails from Pantnagar town in Udham Singh Nagar district was married to a school teacher in Rampur Ishrat Ali in 2001. In her complaint to the police, she alleged that she was gang-raped at a spot near Pant Nagar tehsil when she was going to her brother’s place to attend a family function.The couple have two children — a 10-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter.
She said since her marriage, her husband had been constantly demanding more money from her father, who was an employee at G B Pant Institute of Technology. Initially, she and her family tried to fulfill his demands but his demands kept on increasing. Then her family refused to accede to his demands.
Angered at this, Ishrat started harassing his wife after which his father-in-law lodged a complaint against him at Pant Nagar police station under Section 125 of Domestic Violence Act in 2008.
However, after father passed away three years ago, he began to physically and mentally torture her. Her husband divorced her and began planning a second marriage with a woman with whom he had an affair, said the rape survivor.
On her part, the survivor approached the court which asked Ishrat Ali to pay alimony to his first wife before remarrying. However, he was in no mood to pay the sum and started pressurizing his first wife to settle for a small amount of Rs 1.5 lakh. But she turned down his offer.
On August 3, the woman was going to Pant Nagar to her brother’s house to attend a family function. On the way, she met her ex-husband’s friend Taufeeq Alam at Dineshpur crossing in Pant Nagar. He offered her a lift in his four-wheeler. Three other people were in the car, including her husband’s uncle, his friend and his younger brother. They allegedly forced themselves on her.
They allegedly gagged her, took her to a desolate spot where Tauseef Ahmad, her ex-husband’s uncle Taufeeq Alam, and a friend others gang-raped her and left her in an unconscious state.
Passersby took her to Pant Nagar police station, where an FIR was lodged.
Talking to TOI, SP, Udham Singh Nagar, Riddhim Agarwal said, “We are awaiting the medical report of the survivor after which we will initiate tough action persons named in the FIR.”