By Anil Giri
Kathmandu, March 2 (IANS): The Haryana government has declared that it will provide Rs.300,000 (Nepali Rs.480,000) as compensation to the family of a 28-year-old mentally challenged woman from Rajapur in Bardiya who was raped and murdered in Rohtak last month.

The victim’s relatives said Haryana’s Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar made the announcement after the police charged eight men, including a Nepali national, for the crime.

Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent of Police Shashank Anand of Rohtak police has informed Superintendent of Police Govinda Ram Pariyar in Bardiya that the perpetrators have been remanded in police custody for further investigation.

The accused are Nepali national Santosh B.K. of Pyuthan, Mandir Singh, Pramod Jat, Sunil Jat, Sarowar Singh, Rajesh Jat, Sunil Singh and Pawan of Rohtak.

According to the victim’s relatives, one of the perpetrators, Sombir Jat, committed suicide after the incident.

A group of nine men had gangraped and subsequently murdered the woman on February 1.

Police found her body four days later in a field by a highway at Bahu Ahkbarpur near Rohtak.

“We haven’t yet received the DNA test results and are yet to find an advocate to fight the case on our behalf,” the victim’s sister Janaki said, adding that they were trying to find a lawyer on their own though the state government will appoint one for them.

Legal practitioners, however, are unwilling to fight the case fearing local goons.

Janaki, meanwhile, said the authorities have provided security to her family as they were under constant threats from criminal gangs. She and her husband earn a living operating a small mobile food stall in the Indian city. The victim had gone to Rohtak in order to seek treatment for her mental ailment.

Janaki said various organisations representing Nepalis living in India have been helping them with the case.