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The Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on Sunday slammed the State’s BJP government after a minor tribal girl was raped in Alirajpur district’s Jobat area and alleged that the accused were related to a BJP Minister.
MPCC president Jitu Patwari, after meeting the victim’s family, slammed the government over crimes against women and claimed that the accused were receiving “political patronage”. He also asked Chief Minister Mohan Yadav to sack the Minister.
K. K. Mishra, Mr. Patwari’s media advisor, told The Hindu that the accused were “related to State Minister Nagar Singh Chouhan (who is also the MLA from Alirajpur)”.
According to the police, a 12-year-old tribal girl, who had come to a village to attend a wedding, was raped by a minor boy when she went to attend the nature’s call in the early hours of April 26.
“Both the accused and the victim hail from the tribal community had come for the wedding. In the early hours, when three girls had gone out to attend nature’s call, two boys captured them. Two girls ran from the scene while one was raped by one of the boys,” Alirajpur Superintendent of Police Rajesh Vyas told The Hindu.
Mr. Vyas said that the police had arrested the two boys, aged around 17 years, and another 14-year-old boy who helped his friends in escaping.
While the police has filed a First Information Report (FIR) under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the girl is currently receiving treatment in Indore.
Former Chief Minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath took to social media platform X to slam the incident. “A shocking case of gang rape of an 11-year-old tribal girl has come to light in the Jobat police station area of Alirajpur, a tribal-dominated district of Madhya Pradesh. The BJP government of Madhya Pradesh has once again failed to provide security to women and daughters,” he posted on X.
While Mr. Vyas did not comment on the political connections of the accused, he said that the prime accused was a second-time offender in a rape case. “We have requested the court to treat him as an adult under Section 5 of the Juvenile Justice Act,” he said.
