19-Year-Old Abducted by Bike-Borne Men in MP's Gwalior Rescued: What Happened?

The video of the kidnapping, which took place in broad daylight at a bus stand, went viral on social media.

(Photo: Screengrab)

A 19-year-old girl, who was abducted by two masked men on a motorbike in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior, was rescued late on Monday, 20 November, police said.

She was rescued from a lodge in Guna district, the police added.

The video of the kidnapping, which took place in broad daylight at a bus stand, went viral on social media.

What happened? The woman, a resident of Bhind, got down from a bus at the Jhansi Road Bus Stand, near Gwalior. Just as she was walking, one masked man lifted her to a bike, and the other, sitting on the two-wheeler, sped away.

While one of the accused driving the two-wheeler was wearing a helmet, the other one had covered his face using a cloth.

What has been said: One accused has been arrested in the case, Gwalior SP Rajesh Singh Chandel told The Quint.

“We have apprehended one of the accused from Lahar area in Bhind district and further investigation is underway,” Chandel added.

The larger context: Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of cases of missing children as well as that of missing girls and women in the country.

Between 2019 and 2021, nearly two lakh women and girls went missing from Madhya Pradesh, as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data tabled by the Home Ministry in the Parliament in July this year.

No other state had this many missing women and girl cases.

In 2022, 32 children went missing every day in Madhya Pradesh, of which 24 were girls (75 percent), as per a Right To Information (RTI) report gathered by the NGO Child Rights and You (CRY).