MP cop held for not registering complaint of 'rape victim'
Narsinghpur (MP): 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 said.
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. They 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.
