Mhow rape revives horror of alleged gang-rape of 45 women in Madhya Pradesh

The attack on two Army officers and alleged gang-rape of their woman friend near Mhow in Madhya Pradesh has caused a stir in the state. The incident has summoned back the memories of another similar case pertaining to the alleged gang-rape of 45 women over a period of two years at Kajligarh Fort, a desolated tourist spot at the outskirts of the city.

According to a report by NDTV , the alleged incident happened nine years ago and Indore Rural Superintendent of Police Hitika Vasal has said the two incidents are not connected.

In 2015, a group of BTech students had went to Kajligarh Fort, some 50 km away from Jam Gate where the recent incident happened. The student group was attacked by the members of a gang which led to a complaint being filed at the Simrol police station. However, nobody was arrested in the matter.

Later, it came to the notice of the police that some youths of the area were spending large amounts of money and flaunting expensive phones. The police detained them and upon interrogation discovered connection with a gang that had links to multiple crimes.

Two people namely, Sanjay Katara and Karan Dawar were arrested in the case while a minor was detained, said the NDTV report.

As per the publication, the gang's leader later confessed to committing loots in the area and involvement in at least 45 gang-rape cases over the course of two years. The accused said that they targeted couples near the fort surrounded by forests to finance their drug habits.

Similar to the Jam Gate incident in which the survivor is in a state of shock and is not ready to give her statement, in the Kajligarh Fort incident the victims refused to file complaints.

A petition was also filed in the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court demanding action against officials for not following up the case. No case has not seen any update since then.

Shedding light on the inaction in the matter, former Indore West Superintendent of Police and Indian Police Service (IPS) officer D Kalyan Chakraborty told NDTV that the reluctance of the victims to file complaints was the biggest roadblock in police action.

"The accused were arrested, and an FIR was filed under the sections of rape. However, the major challenge was that no survivor was willing to file complaints. We had to rely on information and leads during the investigation," he said.

In the Jam Gate incident, all six accused have been arrested, a police official said on Friday. Rohit Girwal (23), Sandeep Wariya (18) and Sachin Makwana (25) were held during the day from a forest patch near the site of crime, an official said.

Three other accused, Anil Baror (27) and Pawan Bansunia (23) and Ritesh Bhabhar (25), were held on Wednesday and Thursday.