A WOMAN rag picker was allegedly raped by a man after he forced her to consume liquor in the Agar Naka area of Indian state of Madhya Pradesh the other day, police said.

After the woman filed a complaint about the incident that took place in the Ujjain city on Wednesday, the accused was arrested, The Hindu reported.

The video of the woman being raped on a footpath in the Ujjain city unleashed a war of words between the Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the opposition party trained its guns over the “deteriorating law and order” in the state pointing out that the crime took place in Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s constituency, according to a report in The Indian Express on Thursday.

Police also arrested the man who allegedly filmed and shared the video of the rape, Independent reported on Sunday.

Accused, man who filmed incident arrested; Congress ridicules BJP protest; ruling party says opposition is ‘politicising issue’

Police said the woman was raped on one of the busiest intersections of the city and the incident was also filmed by passersby, and yet nobody intervened.

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City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Om Prakash Mishra said on Thursday: “Yesterday, at around 3:30pm, a woman came to the police station and reported that she had been raped. Immediately a woman officer was called and her story was heard and an FIR was registered after informing the senior officers.”

Police said the complainant revealed the name of the accused, Lokesh. “A team was immediately formed and sent in search of Lokesh,” Mishra said, adding that the suspect was arrested within two hours of the FIR being registered.

“The accused was brought to the police station and questioned, during which Lokesh admitted to committing the crime,” he said.

The woman was medically examined and after that, Lokesh was presented before the court which sent him to judicial custody.

The woman also confirmed the incident before a court of law. “A video of this incident was also made which also came to police, we have taken it as evidence,” Mishra said.

Police have alleged that Lokesh had “promised to marry her, made her drink liquor, and then raped her on Wednesday”.

Some people who were passing by shot videos of the incident instead of stopping the crime, according to the police.

Ujjain Superintendent of Police (SP) Pradeep Sharma said the individual who allegedly filmed the rape has been identified as Mohammad Salim, an auto rickshaw driver in the city.

Sharma said investigators are still questioning him to ascertain his motive. Police recovered the mobile phone used by the accused and have found the recorded video on it.

State Congress President Jitu Patwari said that while the BJP was protesting across the country over Kolkata RG Kar Hospital’s rape-murder case, in Madhya Pradesh a woman was raped on a footpath in the CM’s consistency which has crossed all boundaries.

“BJP is protesting across the country against RG Kar medical college & hospital rape and murder incident… In Madhya Pradesh everyday, 18 women are raped or face some form of harassment. Boundaries were crossed when in the chief minister’s own constituency a woman was raped on the footpath… Why are MP CM Mohan Yadav, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, PM [Narendra] Modi silent?… There is a jungle raj in Madhya Pradesh,” Patwari said.

State BJP President VD Sharma said the Congress party was politicising the incident, The Indian Express reported.

“Congress party has no issues to corner the Madhya Pradesh government and that’s why they try to give such a tone to the incident… The BJP government is the first government to introduce a law to give death penalty to the perpetrators of these kinds of offences… The accused has been arrested and the state government will ensure that strict action is taken against them,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2024