Nine men allegedly kidnapped and gang-raped a 13-year-old girl multiple times in five days in Madhya Pradesh’s Umaria district, police said, as per a NDTV report. The police further said that seven of the accused have been arrested so far.
As per the police investigation, the girl was abducted on 4 January by a man known to her, who raped her for two days along with six of his friends.
Before releasing the victim, on 5 January, he threatened to kill her if she gave out any information about the incident.
Six days later, she was again kidnapped by one of the men who had raped her on 4 and 5 January. She was then raped by three men while they kept her captive in a jungle area as well as at a roadside eatery.
After the three accused let her go, she was again kidnapped and raped by two truck drivers. Multiple searches were conducted after the matter was reported to the police on Friday.
“We’ve so far arrested seven accused and hope to nab the remaining accused of the first case by Saturday night,” Katni Superintendent of Police Vikas Kumar Shahwal was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.
The horrific incident took place at a time when the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government is running the ‘Samman’ campaign, to raise public awareness about crimes against women in the state.
Multiple Recent Rape Cases Reported in MP
On 9 January, a 48-year-old woman from Sidhi district was raped by a man with the help of four others, who allegedly inserted an iron rod in her private parts. All five accused have since been arrested.
Two days later, on 11 January, a 13-year-old girl in Khandwa district was kidnapped, raped and then killed by her neighbour.
Another ghastly incident was reported in Ujjain district a day later where a young woman was assaulted by her husband, father-in-law and women of the family, who used sharp-edged weapons to cut the woman's nose, breast and also injured parts of her body, as reported by NDTV.
Two accused in the case have been arrested while the woman is battling for her life at a hospital in Indore.
On 13 January, CM Chouhan had said that the government would put a surveillance system in place which will track women who go out for work after they register themselves at the local police station.
(With inputs from NDTV, The New Indian Express)
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