The recent Rajasthan’s Jhalawar rape case has sent shivers down the spine of the nation. On 9th March it was reported that a 15-year-old girl from Suket town of Kota district in Rajasthan was abducted and brutally raped by over a dozen people for over eight days at separate places in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar district.
The victim told the police that she wasn’t kept confined in one place in Jhalawar but was moved from one house to another. She was repeatedly raped by different men through these eight days. She was drugged when she groaned in pain, beaten up and threatened with dire consequences whenever she tried putting up resistance. The girl, however, managed to escape and reach her home on March 5 (Friday), after which a complaint was filed and police began investigating the case.
20 people arrested so far in the Jhalawar rape case
According to the latest report by Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, the police registered a case under IPC Sections 363, 376(D) along with provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the SC/ST Act. 20 people, including four minors, have so far been arrested for their alleged involvement in the case.
The Jhalawar rape case
In what transpired, a woman being described as the victim’s acquaintance had allegedly lured her to travel to the adjoining district of Jhalawar on February 25 to get her a school bag as a gift. As Bulbul and Chothmal were familiar with the girl, she did not resist going to Jhalawar with them. But the woman, in turn, handed her over to 3-4 young men who confined her in different locations of Jhalawar where she was gangraped by strangers.
On March 5, Bulbul and Chothmal brought the minor victim back to her home in Suket where she narrated her ordeal to her mother following which the case was filed on March 6. The victim’s statements were recorded on March 9 (Tuesday) before the city magistrate.
The district police formed three teams under Paras Jain, the additional SP Kota Rural who is leading the investigations. Speaking to the media, the SP had said then that three of the accused, identified as Chothmal Mali (20), Pooja Jain alias Bulbul (around 19 to 20) and a minor boy were arrested late on Monday night itself from Suket and Ramganj Mandi areas of Kota district while three other accused identified as Arshad Ayub alias Chinta, Toshif alias Nana and Shahrukh, all residents of Jhalawar district, were arrested by a district special team (DST) from Jawar in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday morning.
A Hindustan Times report quoted a police officer as saying that were trying to ascertain why the rape survivor’s family did not file a missing report after she did not return home on February 25 or if there was negligence at any level.
The victim and her family allege police apathy
However, a report by Dainik Bhaskar said that the victim, who was abducted on February 25, 2021, had approached the Rajasthan police on March 6 with a complaint against her abductors and rapists but she was not entertained. She said that she went to the police station with her widow mother to lodge a complaint against the accused, but the police refused to take down her complaint.
It also reported that after the girl had gone missing, the brother of the victim had also gone to the police station several times to lodge a missing complaint, but the police officials had driven him away.
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— News18 India (@News18India) March 10, 2021
राजस्थान के कोटा में नाबालिग से हुए गैंगरेप के मामले ने सियासी तूल पकड़ लिया#Rajasthan #Kota #Rape @KishoreAjwani @BhawaniSinghjpr pic.twitter.com/0hJVlR0cFr
BJP leaders raise concerns on the deteriorating law and order condition in Rajasthan
Meanwhile, BJP leaders hit the streets in Kota to condemn the deteriorating law and order condition under the leadership of the Congress government in the state. The BJP leaders demonstrated for hours in front of Suket police station, demanding strict and prompt action in the case.
