Two rapes in 48 hours, Congress on the warpath

Madhya Pradesh, Indore CCTV of rape: CCTV footage showed the woman being accosted.

Bhopal:

Two gruesome rape incidents have been reported from Madhya Pradesh – one from Indore and one from Rewa – as outrage continues over the rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata and the rape of two minors in Badlapur in Maharashtra.

In the Rewa case, a couple was attacked at a picnic area near a temple.

The man was tied to a tree and his wife was raped. Her rapists filmed the attack and threatened to post the video online if the couple filed a police complaint. This was on October 21st.

The police filed a report the next day and some suspects were arrested.

Indore rape case

Meanwhile, in Indore, a neurodivergent woman was sexually assaulted by a daily wage worker.

CCTV footage showed the woman wandering around the city’s Sadar Bazaar area, half-naked and bleeding, around 3.45am on Tuesday. The police, acting with greater haste in the case, reviewed the footage and discovered that she had been accosted hours earlier by the worker, now identified as Sonu.

The footage showed Sonu leading the woman to a waste disposal facility less than an hour before she was found. Police later said that Sonu had confessed to the rape.

Congress attacks BJP over double rapes

After the Indore rape, Congress chief Jitu Patwari targeted the ruling BJP against X.

“The daughter is naked on the street (while) the chief minister is busy with an event,” he said, taking a swipe at the Ladli Behna Yojna, a women’s welfare initiative launched by Mr Yadav’s predecessor Shivraj Chouhan. and that was credited with helping the BJP win last year’s Assembly elections.

Mr Patwari also compared the condition in which the Indore woman was found to the disrobing of Draupadi in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, and asked, “Can’t the chief minister who considers himself as ‘God’ see the disrobing of Draupadi?” “I am angry and concerned about the fate of our daughters. The crimes against our daughters do not stop, but the Prime Minister sits with his eyes closed.”

Reacting to the state government, Minister Narendra Shivaji Patel pointed out that the accused – in the Indore case – had been arrested and emphasized the BJP’s commitment to handling such cases sensitively. “The law will teach the suspects a lesson… they will not be spared.”

Mr Patel also said that the BJP government is prioritizing the welfare of neurodivergent individuals, with the Ministry of Social Justice and Welfare involved in supporting them. “Regardless of the city, the department diligently carries out its responsibilities,” he asserted.

In the Ujjain rape case, the minor girl was denied help by hundreds of people.

2023 Ujjain rape case

The Rewa and Indore sexual assault cases have once again brought Madhya Pradesh into the spotlight after a horrific incident from Ujjain in September last year. An underage girl was raped and left bleeding in the street, went door to door asking for help, but was turned away by heartless citizens.

READ | Man arrested for raping teenager near Ujjain, tried to escape from custody

For two hours, she was ignored by more than 500 homes and restaurants, as well as officials at a toll booth, until a temple priest spotted her, rushed her to a hospital and called the police.

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