Girl gang raped by Police for 10 days in jail
BHOPAL: A 20-year-old woman has alleged that she was kept in a lock-up and raped for 10 days in May this year by five police personnel, including the police station in-charge and sub-divisional police officer, in Mangawan of MP’s Rewa district.
The woman is an accused in a murder case and is now in jail custody. She made the explosive allegation before an additional district judge and a team of lawyers when they had gone to inspect the prison on October 10. The district judge then ordered a judicial inquiry and write to the Rewa SP Rakesh Singh to take action. The SP said he was yet to get the letter from the court. “She is a murder accused,” he said. The complainant says she was raped between May 9 and May 21, while police say she was arrested on May 21, around five days after a woman named Sudha Verma was murdered in a village in Mangawan police station jurisdiction.
The woman alleges she was kept in the lock-up and raped by the SDOP, police station in-charge, and three constables. A female constable had protested but was rebuked by her seniors, she told the legal team in prison on October 10. Warden admitted woman told her about the gang-rape, but did not believe her
Under Supreme Court orders, legal teams routinely visit female inmates in prison and submit reports, said advocate Satish Mishra, who was part of the group that spoke to the woman on October 10.
“She said all this in front of the four of us — additional district judge, law officer of the district legal aid authority and two lawyers, including me. When we asked why she hadn’t spoken up earlier, she said she had told the warden three months ago. Also, she pointed out, policemen had done this to her and there were policemen in jail too, so she was scared. She says the accused cops had threatened to implicate her father in the murder case if talked about it,” said advocate Mishra
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The warden acknowledged that the detainee had told her about the gang-rape but they did not believe her. “Her statement was recorded by an additional district judge and placed before the chief judicial magistrate, who then submitted it to the district judge. On October 14, the judge ordered a judicial probe and wrote to the SP,” president of Rewa district bar association, Rajendra Pandey, told reporters.
Rewa SP Rakesh Singh said the woman and a male friend were arrested on May 21 on the basis of call details, mobile location, and other evidence. “Based on her information, the weapon used in the crime was recovered from a septic tank in the presence of villagers on May 21. Her blood-stained clothes were also recovered. She underwent a medical examination as she was injured in the legs during the struggle with the murder victim,” said the SP. As per police records, the mobile location of the woman was around 20km from the police station till May 16. Her male co-accused has got bail, but she is still on remand, say police. The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault.
