The family of the 15-year-old rape survivor has held the police responsible for the alleged incident in Ujjain claiming that they were turned when they went to file a missing complaint.
The minor, who had gone missing from her house in Satna last week and reached Ujjain earlier this week where she was allegedly raped by an auto driver.
The father of the rape survivor has alleged that the family reached out to the Satna police on Sunday night, hours after she went missing, but was told to return the next morning and look for her themselves.
The father said her grandfather, with whom she lived, and some other villagers had tried to file a complaint at the Jaitwara police station at 10 pm, hours before the alleged incident in Ujjain. “They were asked to leave and were told to search themselves and return in the morning,” he said.
The father also said that even after a first information report (FIR) was registered on Monday morning, the police was lax in the search for his daughter.
“She went missing around 10am on Sunday and likely boarded the train from Jaitwara police station that reaches Ujjain at around 11pm,” the father said.
“If the police had started their probe on Sunday night, the girl could have been saved,” the father said.
According to the police, CCTV footage from Satna shows the girl reached the railway station, 22 kilometres away from Jaitwara, and boarded the Kshipra Express.
A neighbour from the same village also alleged police inaction. “The police did not make any effort to trace the girl. They only began to act when the grandfather approached them with the viral video of the Ujjain incident,” the neighbour said.
The police also came under fire from the opposition parties, who accused them of hiding the truth. Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee President Kamal Nath and National General Secretary Randeep Surjewala tried to meet the girl and her grandfather in Indore on Friday morning but were prevented from doing so. “The doctors informed them that the girl has a grievous injury and will take at least two months to recover. The hospital administration said the girl was in trauma, so we couldn’t meet her, but the police didn’t allow us to be the grandfather of the survivor either. Police are trying to hide their failure,” said Aminul Khan Suri, spokesperson, Indore Congress.
Jaitwara police station in-charge Shweta Maurya told HT that the police had “taken swift action” in the matter. Vijay Pratap Singh Parihar, deputy commissioner of police (headquarters)said that people were trying to politicise the matter. “The grandfather came to the police station at 8am on Monday morning and the FIR was registered immediately at 10am,” he said.
According to the police, the girl was found bleeding on Badnagar road under Mahakal police station area in Ujjain on Monday. She was rescued by the Dandi Ashram who then took her to a private hospital where an initial medical examination confirmed that she was raped.
She was operated upon by a team of specialist doctors at the government Maharaja Tukojirao Holkar Women’s Hospital on Wednesday.
On Thursday, police arrested two auto-rickshaw drivers identified as Bharat Sonia resident of the Nanakheda slum area, and Rakesh Malviya after scrutinising over 700 CCTV camera footage in and around the area.
Police said that Soni was detained after CCTV footage showed him interacting with the survivor near Ujjain railway station on Sunday, the day she was allegedly raped,
The developments came a day after state home minister Narottam Mishra announced a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the matter, as viral visuals showed the minor, partially clothed and in an injured condition, going door to door for help on the streets of Ujjain.
According to the police Soni, 24, saw her first and took her to Jeevan Khedi in his auto-rickshaw where he left. Another auto driver (Malviya) was stopped by the girl asking for help but he took her to a crowded area and left near Hatkeshwar colony from where she roamed for three hours for help before she was spotted by an Ashram priest, police added.
The auto-rickshaw driver was taken into custody based on video footage and blood stains found on the passenger seat, police had said.
While Soni has been arrested under section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under the relevant section of Protection of Children from Sexual Offence provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), Malviya was arrested under section 201 of IPC for trying to hide evidence, giving false information and not informing the police about the incident.
Police said that Soni also has several criminal cases of rash driving and voluntarily causing hurt pending against him.
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