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Police constable in Bhopal arrested for raping senior’s wife
Madhya Pradesh’s unenviable reputation as an unsafe place for women has taken another hit with a policeman now accused of raping a colleague’s wife in the state capital.
A 33-year-old police constable was arrested on Sunday for allegedly raping a head constable’s wife in Bhopal, embarrassing the police establishment which is already under fire for perceived insensitivity in dealing with the alleged gang-rape of a girl in the state capital.
Ashish Bhattacharya, town inspector, Kamla Nagar police station said the head constable’s wife alleged that constable Ajab Singh raped her nearly a week ago.
“Based on the complaint, we have filed a case against constable Ajab Singh under IPC section 376. We arrested the constable today (Sunday), produced him before the court, which sent him to judicial custody,” he added.
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The accused allegedly threatened the woman with dire consequences if she spoke about the rape to anyone. She finally confided in her husband and both of them lodged a complaint on Sunday. The accused and the victim live near each other in official quarters.
The latest rape has once again exposed Madhya Pradesh’s poor track record on women’s safety.
On October 31, a 19-year-old civil service aspirant was gang raped by four rag pickers hardly 200 metres from the Government Railway Police’s Habibganj station in Bhopal.
On November 3, a 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped at Kotwali in Agar Malwa district, about 200 km northwest of Bhopal.
Data submitted in the state legislative assembly in February this year shows 11 women were raped every day and six gang-raped took place almost every week in the state between February 1, 2016, and mid-February 2017. Most of the victims were minor.
