E-Paper
MP government submits status report to high court in gang rape case
After coming under fire for the insensitivity of its police officers in the Bhopal gang rape case, the government told the high court that it has taken the crime seriously.
The Madhya Pradesh government on Monday told the high court that five policemen and a doctor were suspended, another doctor was sacked and a show cause notice issued to an additional SP ranked officer in connection with events related to the Bhopal gang rape of October 31.
The government’s assertion came in an action taken report submitted to the court where it also said that it has been very sensitive in dealing with the case.
Madhya Pradesh advocate general Purushaindra Kaurav told the bench comprising of chief justice justice Hemant Gupta and justice VK Shukla that the government had taken the incident seriously.
A charge sheet had been filed against the accused. Though the lapses in the medical report were the result of human error, the state government took action against the erring doctors.
He told the court that the state government had taken stringent measures for safety of women. An app was also launched recently through which women could seek immediate police help. The government also launched an awareness campaign for women on November 11 and which continued till November 25.
On October 31, a 19-year-old civil service aspirant who was returning home from a coaching centre in MP Nagar and was to catch a train for Vidisha, was waylaid by two of the accused at around about 7.30 pm. The two attacked and raped the girl under a culvert hardly 100 meters away from Habibganj police station.
Two more accused join the first two and also raped the victim. They allegedly also attempted to kill her before leaving the scene of crime. Police arrested all the four accused.
Despite her parents being police personnel, the victim had faced to a lot of trouble to lodge a complaint as police stations feuded over their jurisdictions. The incident had triggered widespread public outrage.
The high court directed the government to submit a compliance report and set the next date of hearing on January 8.
Madhya Pradesh continues to be one of the most unsafe and dangerous places for women in the country where one woman is raped in the state roughly every two hours according to figures presented in the state assembly earlier this year.
