Faridabad: A 25-year-old woman was allegedly raped by two men inside a moving vehicle through the night and thrown out onto a deserted road in Haryana’s Faridabad, an incident that has drawn chilling parallels with the December 2012 Nirbhaya case that shook the country and led to a sweeping overhaul of rape laws. Police said the woman suffered critical head and facial injuries after being pushed from the speeding vehicle in the early hours of Tuesday on the sparsely populated Gurgaon-Faridabad road.
The survivor, a mother of three, remains hospitalised and is not yet fit to record her statement, officials said. Investigators said the sequence of events, involving sexual assault in a moving vehicle followed by the victim being dumped on a roadside at high speed, has revived memories of the brutal assault on the young physiotherapy intern in 2012, who later died of her injuries.
According to the police, the woman had been staying at her parents’ home due to marital discord. On Monday evening, she went to visit a friend in Sector 23 and was returning late at night when two men offered her a lift after seeing her waiting for transport. Instead of taking her to her destination, police said, the accused drove towards Gurugram and raped her inside the vehicle.
The woman was driven around for several hours during the night, police said. At around 3 am, the accused allegedly threw her out of the moving vehicle near Raja Chowk in Faridabad while it was travelling at a speed of over 90 kilometres per hour. She sustained severe injuries to her head and face and began bleeding heavily after hitting the road.
Despite her condition, the woman managed to call her sister, who rushed to the spot and took her to Badshah Khan Civil Hospital. Given the seriousness of the injuries, doctors advised shifting her to Delhi for advanced treatment. The family, however, chose to admit her to a private hospital in Faridabad.
A doctor at the private hospital said the woman had suffered multiple serious injuries, including broken facial cavities and a dislocated shoulder, and required more than 12 stitches to her head and face. “Preparations are underway for surgery and the woman is out of danger,” the doctor said. “It appears the injuries were caused either by a hard object or by being thrown onto the road. Samples have been sent to the forensic science laboratory for examination.”
Police said the survivor’s condition remains critical and doctors have declared her unfit to record her statement at this stage. “The injuries are severe. She will be able to give her statement only after her condition stabilises,” a police officer said.
Two men have been arrested in connection with the case. One of the accused is from Uttar Pradesh and the other from Madhya Pradesh. Police said both were living in Faridabad and were not known to the woman. The van used in the crime has been seized, and investigators said the accused have confessed during questioning.
Faridabad police spokesperson Yashpal Yadav said the accused were produced before a city court on Wednesday and remanded to judicial custody. He added that their identities have not been made public because a test identification parade is yet to be conducted. “Due to the TIP process, the names and photographs of the accused cannot be revealed at this time. A further probe is underway,” he said.
In her complaint, the survivor’s sister said the family decided to opt for treatment at a private hospital considering the extent of the injuries. “My sister was badly injured after she was thrown out of the vehicle. Considering her condition, we decided to admit her to a private hospital,” she said.
The incident has triggered sharp political reactions in Haryana. The state Congress president alleged that the crime reflected a breakdown of law and order under the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government. “Women feel unsafe and criminals are emboldened,” he said, demanding a fast-track trial, adequate compensation for the survivor, full security for her family, and a high-level probe. He also called for strict action against officials found responsible, drawing a response from the opposition Indian National Congress.
Exactly 12 years ago, in December 2012, a young physiotherapy intern, later known as Nirbhaya, was gangraped in a moving bus in Delhi and thrown out near the airport. She died 13 days later from her injuries in a Singapore hospital. That case led to far-reaching changes in India’s criminal laws dealing with sexual violence.
Police said the investigation into the Faridabad assault is continuing, with forensic reports awaited and further questioning planned once the survivor is declared medically fit.