Newly married woman gang-raped, Mentally ill woman raped- One State Madhya Pradesh, Two Separate Incidents Of Shame In A Span of Two days

In less than 48 hours two separate incidents of sexual assault have been reported from Madhya Pradesh- one in Indore and another in Rewa, triggering political slugfest over the shocking incidents. A newly married woman was allegedly gang-raped on October 21 infront of her husband in Rewa, while in Indore a mentally challenged woman was raped by a daily wage earner on the intervening night of last Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Rewa Incident

The newly married couple had gone for an outing near a temple and a picnic spot in Rewa on last Monday. The young couple had a fight and following that the woman had walked out. Five men had spotted her, approached her and then forced themselves on her, claim police officials as what was narrated to them by the victim. The husband was tied to a tree and the woman was allegedly raped in turns by the gang and had even threatened to release the video of the crime online. The couple had approached the police on Tuesday. Forensic teams were sent to the spot and the medical was done on the woman, following which the FIR was resistered at around 7pm on Tuesday.

“The complaint was registered on October 22. Police have rounded up around 100 people for the purpose of probe. This is being dealt with absolute sensitivity so that the identity of the woman is protected. The survivor told police that none of the men who raped her had tattoos on his hand and chest”, said Rewa Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Himali Pathak to media
who was tied to a tree by the miscreants at a picnic spot in Rewa

No one has been arrested in the case as yet.

The Indore Incident

In Indore, a 40-year-old woman suffering from mental illness was raped by a 20 year old daily wage earner on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, confirmed police. The woman was first identified by the accused, as she was wandering on the street, the man had taken her to a secluded place and raped her. Caught on CCTV footage, the man was seen walking along with her. The man was identified later as Sonu. He has been arrested by police. “The man has confessed to the crime. In the CCTV footage Sonu was seen leading the woman to a waste treatment facility less than an hour before she was eventually found walking half naked near Sadar Bazaar area around 3.45 am on Tuesday morning”, said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar Sharma. The accused was produced before the court and later sent to Judicial custody by the court.

The Indore incident has brought back the memories of Ujjain rape of a minor in September last year. A minor girl was raped and left bleeding on the streets. Similar to the Indore incident, the Ujjain minor was caught on CCTV camera walking half naked and bleeding. The Ujjain shocker had shaken the conscience of the nation after the minor was caught on camera seeking help from people, only to be refused and turned back by a posh neighbourhood.

On August 9, a medical student was raped and murdered at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata, stoking nationwide protests by the doctors. Reports show that in the past two months alone more than dozen cases of rapes and gang-rapes have been reported from different parts of India, even as demand for stringent punishment through fast track trial grows for the rapists.

Madhya Pradesh Congress has hit out at the ruling BJP, calling their signature ‘Ladli Behna’ scheme of offering financial assistance to women, a hoax, given the current environment around where “women are unsafe”. “There is complete collapse of law and order in the state. The Chief Minister should start a new department, instead of Home Ministry, he should start with Jungleraj department”, said Congress leader Jitendra Patwari