19-year-old UPSC aspirant in Bhopal gangraped by four men 'repeatedly'; cop mocks victim for coming up with 'filmy story'

A 19-year-old woman was allegedly abducted and raped by four men near railway tracks in Bhopal on Tuesday night when she was returning home after attending a coaching class, police said on Thursday. Police arrested all the four accused and booked them under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, according to PTI. [caption id=“attachment_4190731” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] However, another report in The Times of India said that three police stations refused to accept the woman’s complaint, despite the fact that both her parents are in the police. A Government Railway Police (GRP) officer even mocked her for “coming with a filmy story”. It was only when the woman and her parents nabbed two of the culprits after a scuffle on Wednesday that the police registered a complaint. “It’s one of the worst experiences of my life. If I, as a policewoman, have to face such problems in filing my daughter’s gangrape complaint, I can’t imagine what a common man goes through,” the detailed report quoted the woman’s mother as saying. A report in The New Indian Express said that the woman is a BSc student who is preparing for civil services exam. The incident occurred at around 10 pm on Tuesday in vicinity of the Habibganj railway station when the four men abducted the woman while she was returning home after attending a coaching class in Maharana Pratap Nagar, a GRP officer said. The men tried to snatch her jewellery but when she resisted, the accused allegedly took the woman under a culvert near the railway tracks and took turns to rape her before fleeing. On the basis of the complaint lodged by the woman, a case was registered at the GRP Police Station (Habibganj Railway Station) as the area where the crime occurred falls under their jurisdiction, said PTI. The accused are identified as Golu Bihari, Amar Chhantu, Rajesh, and Ramesh. News18 reported that one of the accused is a habitual criminal and already has a murder case registered against him. It also said the culprits tried to kill the woman by strangulating her, fearing identification. The girl fainted and the culprits fled, assuming the girl to be dead. “They have been booked under sections 376 D (gangrape) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention),” the officer said, adding that further investigation is on.