Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Friday the hearing in the gang rape of a 19-year-old civil service aspirant in Bhopal would be conducted in a fast-track court and that action will be taken against police officials for refusing to register her complaint, as the opposition Congress intensified its protests about his “tall claims” about women’s safety.
Officers in charge of MP Nagar, Habibganj and GRP police stations have been suspended for failing to act promptly after the family of the woman approached them one after the other to lodge a complaint. The city superintendent of police in the area has also been transferred.
Inspector general of police (law and order) Makrand Deouskar confirmed the suspensions and the transfer.
Police registered a case 24 hours after the woman, the daughter of an assistant sub-inspector in the Railway Protection Force, was gang-raped on Tuesday by four rag pickers hardly 200 metres from the Government Railway Police’s Habibganj station because of a dispute over the jurisdiction of the crime scene.
The woman’s family initially approached the GRP officials at Habibganj station but they refused to register a case, saying the scene of crime fell under the jurisdiction of MP Nagar police station.
At the MP Nagar police station on Wednesday, they were told they should go to the Habibganj police station. And officials at the Habibganj police station told them the GRP was responsible for the area where the crime was committed.
{{/usCountry}}At the MP Nagar police station on Wednesday, they were told they should go to the Habibganj police station. And officials at the Habibganj police station told them the GRP was responsible for the area where the crime was committed.
{{/usCountry}}It was only after the family put pressure, the case was registered.
Deputy inspector general of police (crime against women cell) Sudhir Ladh will inquire into the role of MP Nagar, Habibganj and GRP police stations over the delay in lodging the report and find those responsible for the delay, officials said.
The RPF started patrolling the stretch of the railway track where the gang rape took place from Thursday night.
However, the Congress said it was not satisfied with the action taken by the police and Chouhan’s assurances. The leader of the Opposition Ajay Singh said Chouhan’s tall claims that women were safe and empowered in the state have been exposed after the college student’s gang rape in the capital.
Singh said if a police officer’s daughter was not safe in the seat of power, one can imagine the condition of women in the rest of the state.
Congress workers held a demonstration at the GRP police station at Habibganj on Friday morning to register their protest and demand more stringent action against the police officials.
“This police station should be closed down. In any case, they are not functioning, so why keep them open,” said Congress leader PC Sharma.
Figures show Madhya Pradesh continues to be one of the most unsafe and dangerous places for women in the country as one woman is raped in the central state roughly every two hours.
Data submitted in the state legislative assembly in February this year shows 11 women were raped every day and six gang-raped every week in Madhya Pradesh on an average during the previous one year. And over half of the rape victims were minors, it said.