A devastated mother recalled the horrifying moments when she was held at knifepoint while three other intruders brutally raped her two minor daughters, aged 13 and 15.
The heinous crime occurred on the intervening night of Aug. 5 and 6, in the Kundli district of Haryana, India.
The 37-year-old mother, who will not be named, said the four perpetrators were her neighbors living in the adjacent apartments on the ground floor of a single-story building.
The mother said she and her daughters were startled and had no time to react when the perpetrators, identified as Aun Pandit, Ram Suhag, Bhukan and Phool Chand, kicked open their door at around 1 am and barged in.
One of the suspects held the mother at knifepoint while the others took turns to rape the minor girls.
The men emptied a bottle of pesticide down the girls’ throats during the rape, which the mother said went on for more than two hours. All this happened while the woman’s two sons were asleep on the terrace of the same building,
"I watched my daughters turn blue. They were right in front of me, but I could not do anything to save them," the woman told Times of India on Saturday, Aug.14.
The teen victims died while they were being transported to the hospital.
"They never spoke to anyone. They were quiet girls who kept to themselves. Both were bright, smarter than their brothers. I wish I had died before seeing them go like this," said the mother.
The woman said she’s horrified to go back to her home neither can she even bear to look at it.
"I can’t go there. My heart races and my body shivers at the thought of what happened to my daughters there. I have moved my cot here. My sons bring me food," she told the news outlet while lying on a charpoy in the yard of a nearby building.
The woman initially told the police that her daughters died of a snake bite, she said the suspects had threatened her to say that.
"The girls’ mother was threatened. She was, as a result, scared. So, she kept saying it was a snake bite case. But after the post-mortem reports made it clear that it was a case of poisoning and sexual assault, she told us the truth," said Kundli Station House Officer (SHO) Ravi Kumar.
The mother said she had single-handedly raised the four kids after her husband died 10 years ago.
The family had moved to the village just a month ago. While the mother did odd jobs for a living her sons, aged 18 and 14, sought out daily wage works.
"This is our life. We move from one state to another in search of jobs. Last month, when my brother and I decided to move here, we thought it’s better to get our mother and sisters along. Otherwise, we keep worrying about them," said the older son.
Based on the woman’s confession, the police arrested all four suspects on Aug.10.
The mother said she wants justice to be served to her daughters.
"I have decided to return to my village (in Bihar), but only after I see the men who raped and murdered my daughters hanged," she said.
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSCs) has sought an action-taken report from the Haryana government by August 19.
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