Five police officers suspended for Bhopal gang-rape

Bhopal, Nov 3 (IANS) Five police officers were on Friday suspended in Madhya Pradesh for the alleged gang rape of a 19-year-old daughter of a police couple in the state capital on Tuesday, a senior police officer said.

The action followed a recommendation to this effect in a report submitted by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Sudhir Lad on the incident and the role of police personnel after it took place.

Taking seriously the incident of gang rape with police personnel's daughter right in the middle of the state capital, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday held a meeting with senior police officers and ordered action against the errant officers.

Chouhan also ordered formation of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the incident. The team will be headed by DIG Lad.

Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Makrand Deuskar told the media: "Officer In-charge of MP Nagar Police Station Sanjay Singh Bais, Habibganj Police Station In-charge Ravindra Yadav and In-charge of GRP Police Station of Habibgaj Railway Station Mohit saxena have been suspended on charges of dereliction of duty."

Two Sub Inspectors of MP Nagar and GRP police stations had also been suspended, and the Superintendent of Police of MP Nagar area attached to the police headquarters, Deuskar said.

Victim Puja (not real name), whose parents are police personnel themselves and posted in another city, was returning from coaching classes late on Tuesday evening when she was accosted by four inebriated persons near the Habibganj Railway Station and raped her for three hours.

Two city police stations, however, kept dilly-dallying over registering of the FIR, saying the place of occurrence did not fall within their area. Finally, the case was registered two days after the incident. Two of the accused have been arrested.

The Congress on Friday launched a scathing attack on Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the gang rape and the subsequent delay in lodging of the FIR.

Raising questions over the law and order situation as well as the relevance of "women empowerment" under the Bharatiya Janata Party rule in the state, the party leaders wondered how campaigns like "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" would succeed in Madhya Pradesh.

Pointing out that it took two days to lodge the FIR, they said the role of police was at best "callous" and "irresponsible", and demonstrated at the local Habibganj Police Station, under whose area the incident reportedly took place.

In a sarcastic remark, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in state assembly Ajay Singh said: "Our Chief Minister claims that Madhya Pradesh is ahead of even America when it comes to women empowerment. But the claim stands exposed in the state capital only."

A policeman's daughter was gang-raped in capital Bhopal and the victim had to keep running between MP Nagar and Habibganj police stations to lodge the FIR, he added.

In a statement, state Secretary of the Communist Party of India Badal Saroj said: "When the Chief Minister and ministers are busy watching a mega event that involved investment in crores, the daughter of a police couple is raped between two police stations in the state capital and it takes her two days to lodge a complaint. It's shameful."