Madhya Pradesh policemen held for not registering complaint of rape victim

A policeman has been arrested in Madhya Pradesh's Narsinghpur district for allegedly not registering a Dalit rape victim's complaint for four days, following which she ended her life, a top officer said on Saturday.

The arrest was made after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took serious cognisance of the alleged lapse and ordered that a case be registered against the local police official. Two senior officials were also shunted out as per the orders.

The woman, who was allegedly raped by three men four days ago, committed suicide on Friday, police said.

An official in Bhopal said that Chouhan had ordered on Friday night that Assistant Inspector of Police (ASI) Mishrilal Kodapa of Gotitoriya police outpost in Gadarwara tehsil, some 50 kms from Narsinghpur district headquarters, should be booked and arrested for not registering the victim's complaint of gang-rape.

Besides, as per the orders, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rajesh Tiwari and Gadarwara Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) S R Yadav were shunted out from Narsinghpur, he said.

"A case was registered against Kodapa and he was arrested under 166 (c) (public servant failing to record information) of IPC on Friday night," Jabalpur Zone Inspector General of Police Bhagwat Singh Chauhan told PTI.

The ASP and the SDOP have been transferred from Narsinghpur, he added.

Kodapa had been suspended on Friday after a video went viral in social media, in which the husband of the deceased woman accused the policeman of not registering a complaint of rape, police said.

The man was purportedly heard saying in the audio-visual clip that instead of taking action in the case, he was held based on a complaint lodged by the accused and had to cough up Rs 50,000 as a bribe for his release.

"Three men identified as Arvind and Parsu Choudhary, who belonged to the same community as the victim, and another accused Anil Rai, allegedly gang-raped the 32-year old woman on Monday. The trio has been arrested," Narsinghpur SP Ajay Singh said.

According to police, the accused allegedly raped the woman when she was in a field cutting grass for the cattle.

The police, however, said on Friday that the woman's two nieces said that the accused caught hold of her and teased her, but did not confirm that she was raped.

As per the girls' version, when they raised an alarm, the accused fled from the spot, police added.

SDOP Yadav, who has been shunted out, had said on Friday that the woman and her husband had orally complained to the police on the same day but there was no clarity in the complaint.

On Friday, when the victim went to fetch water from a tap, a local woman had allegedly taunted her, after which the victim returned home and hanged herself, police said.

Police said they have already arrested that woman.

"Besides, Motilal, Arvind's father, too, was arrested under IPC section 306 (abetment of suicide) as he had said something insulting to the woman," Yadav had said.

After the Dalit woman hanged herself, the police registered a case of gang rape against the three accused on Friday after four days.