20-year-old teacher gangraped.

A 20-year-old teacher of a private computer institute was beaten up and allegedly gangraped by three men and abandoned in the cover of
darkness on Monday evening, on a desolate stretch that she took everyday to walk home with a colleague. The police arrived on the scene two hours later, around 8.30pm, after the girl regained consciousness and alerted people; the colleague who apparently fled earlier to raise alarm did not inform police and was traced some three hours after the crime.

The Nangloi police registered a case of rape after much debate — the victim was found in Nangloi (NW Delhi) while she was ``abducted'' from Sultanpuri in Outer District. The girl has been admitted to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital and is under observation at the ICU. Doctors said she was out of danger.

Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal said an investigation would be carried out to determine if there was delay in police action. ``Even if it is half-hour delay, we cannot tolerate it. This is a serious matter and I have asked both Nangloi and Sultanpuri police to coordinate during investigations,'' Dadwal said. No arrests have been made so far.

DCP (west) Sharad Aggarwal said the girl — who holds a diploma in computer software — was employed as an instructor at a private computer training institute for children in Sultanpuri. A resident of Arvind Enclave, she usually walked back home — a distance of about four kilometres — with a colleague who stays in Karan Vihar, Nangloi. ``On Monday, she left the institute around 6.30pm and was returning home with the colleague as usual. They were close to a dirt track near the Nangloi railway crossing when three men crept up from behind,'' said Aggarwal.

The three allegedly started passing lewd comments at the girl and even tried to physically stop her. When the girl and her colleague protested, they were beaten up. ``The colleague fled from the spot. The three men forcibly carried the girl to the other side of the tracks under some bushes. She was repeatedly raped and soon fainted. The accused then fled from the spot,'' said an investigating officer. While police maintained that three men raped the girl, the victim's father said two others were involved.

Around 8pm, she regained consciousness. ``She crossed the tracks and shouted for help. Some passersby heard her shouts and informed the local police. A constable rushed to the spot and her father was informed. She was then rushed to hospital,'' said DCP Aggarwal.

Investigation has already begun into the colleague's behaviour after he fled the spot. He reportedly did not inform police; instead he intimated the computer institute around 9pm. The director of the institute informed police who then picked up the colleague for inquiry. Police said they were still recording his statement.

``The colleague said he fled to gather help but no one came to his rescue. He also claimed that he made a call at 100 and a message was flashed at the Sultanpuri police station. We are investigating his claims,'' added the DCP.

The girl's father, a wholesale trader, said the colleague could have prevented the crime had he acted in time. He alleged that the man did not call up to inform police though a PCO booth operated right across the rail tracks where the incident took place. ``I did not imagine that such a thing could happen on the stretch that she walked everyday without a thought,'' he said.