Woman raped on busy footpath in Ujjain, passersby shoot videos instead of helping

City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Ujjain, Om Prakash Mishra, said: “Yesterday, at around 3:30 pm, a woman came to the police station and reported that she had been raped. Immediately a woman officer was called and her story was heard and an FIR was registered after informing the senior officers.”

Police said the woman, in her complaint, revealed the name of the accused, Lokesh. “A team was immediately formed and sent in search of Lokesh, and yesterday itself, within 2 hours of the FIR being registered, we arrested Lokesh. The accused was brought to the police station and questioned, during which Lokesh admitted to committing the crime,” Mishra said.

The woman was medically examined and after that, Lokesh was presented before the court which sent the accused to judicial custody.

“Apart from this, the statement of the woman was also recorded before the court today. In which the woman has confirmed the incident of rape before the court… A video of this incident was also made which also came to police, we have taken it as evidence,” Mishra said.

Police have alleged that the accused Lokesh had “promised to marry her, made her drink liquor, and then raped her on Wednesday”.

Some people who were passing by shot videos of the incident instead of stopping the crime, according to police.

State Congress President Jitu Patwari said that while the BJP was protesting across the country over the R G Kar rape case, in Madhya Pradesh, a woman was raped on a footpath in the CM’s consistency which has crossed all boundaries.

“BJP is protesting across the country against RG Kar medical college & hospital rape and murder incident… In Madhya Pradesh everyday, 18 women are raped or face some form of harrasment. Boundaries were crossed when in the Chief Minister’s own constituency a woman was raped on the footpath… Why is MP CM Mohan Yadav, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, PM Modi silent?… There is a jungle raj in Madhya Pradesh,” Patwari said.

State BJP President VD Sharma said the Congress party was politicising the incident.

“Congress party has no issues to corner the Madhya Pradesh government and that’s why they try to give such a tone to the incident… The BJP government is the first government to introduce a law to give the death penalty to the perpetrators of these kinds of incidents… The accused has been arrested and the state government will ensure that strict action is taken against them,” Sharma said.