Two police constables, a homeguard and an alleged aide of a local policeman were arrested by the Gir Somnath Police on Friday, two days after a 28-year-old widow accused them of raping her repeatedly in lieu of allowing her to sale liquor. In a statement, the police said that based on a complaint filed by the woman, a case was lodged under sections 376(2)(a)(n) (repeated rape by a police officer) and 354(A)(D) (sexual harassment and voyeurism) of the Indian Penal Code on Thursday. The police identified the accused as Salim Bloch, Mohan Makwana, Paresh Shingoda and Hanif Shahmadar. While Bloch and Makwana are constables attached to two units of district police, Shahmadar is a homeguard. Shingoda, the police said, is a private person who identified himself as the aide of a policeman. As per the complaint, the woman’s husband, who used to sell liquor illegally, had died last January. Following this, the woman, a mother of three children, started selling liquor to support her family. The statement said that it was then that Bloch, Makwana and Shingoda started demanding money and sexual favours from her. They allegedly repeatedly sexually assaulted her while Shahmadar demanded sexual favours from her over telephone. The complaint alleged that the four men started raping her even after she stopped selling liquor within three months. One of the accused even filed a false case of bootlegging against her, the woman claimed. On Wednesday, she wrote to the director general of police, following which an FIR was registered.
