A 25-year-old woman was allegedly abducted and gang-raped by two persons on Saturday night in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district, police said, adding the accused have been arrested.
Police said the incident took place in the district’s Gangapur city. The accused took the woman to a warehouse, raped her and left unclothed, they said.
Two persons, identified as Chhotu Sargada (42) and Giridhari Gadri (30) were arrested in connection with the case, said Gangapur deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Labhu Ram Bishnoi, adding the accused are known to the woman.
Chhotu called the woman on Saturday evening, and both decided to meet at night, said the DSP.
“Following their conversation, the woman met Chhotu along with Giridhari near a local temple from where both forcibly made her sit on their two-wheeler and took her to a warehouse near Jampura, around eight kilometres away from her house,” DSP Bishnoi said.
“The woman was beaten up and raped by both the accused. Later, they left her unclothed in the warehouse,” added the DSP.
Bishnoi said that a passerby on a two-wheeler noticed the woman as she came out of the warehouse building after a while and screamed for help.
The man immediately informed the police, following which the station house officer of the local police station arrived at the spot and took the woman to a nearby hospital for treatment and a thorough medical test. Later, a forensic team was also called to the spot for examination.
Police said that the accused were arrested within hours of the incident by a police team led by Bhilwara additional superintendent of police Vimal Singh Nehra.
The accused were arrested and charged under sections 376 (rape), 376 D (gangrape), 366 (abduction), and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code, said police.
Giving further details, Ajay Pal, inspector general of police (IGP) (Udaipur range), said that the rape survivor had initially made a false statement in which she said that three persons abducted her in a four-wheeler.
“Later, she confessed that she went to meet the two accused willingly on the pretext of a phone call. However, as the incident was not consensual, we arrested Chhotu and Giridhari under the charge of gang rape,” said the IGP.
Meanwhile, the incident sparked a political salvo as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Rajendra Rathore, took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, “The incident that took place within the 100 feet of the local DSP office in Bhilwara’s Gangapur is another scandal for Rajasthan.”
Referring to the gangrape of another 14-year-old minor in Bhilwara on August 2, Rathore slammed chief minister Ashok Gehlot. “Chief Minister @ashokgehlot51 Sir, will you now term the Gangapur incident as a false one too? As the home minister, isn’t this your responsibility to provide security to women?” he wrote on X in Hindi.
Rathore also took a dig at Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who is all set to visit Tonk’s Niwai on Sunday ahead of the state assembly election due later this year.
“The one who gave the slogan ‘I am a girl, I can fight’ @priyankagandhi is coming to Tonk today. Priyanka Ji, go to any corner of Rajasthan and see that the incidents of brutality against women are not stopping under your Congress government,” he further wrote.
Rashtriya Loktantrik Party supremo Hanuman Beniwal also slammed the state government and said, “Rajasthan ranks first in the country in crimes against women, yet the government seems to be failing to stop the crimes. Police should immediately ensure the strictest legal action against the accused.”
