BHOPAL: For three hours, a 19-year-old college girl was tied up and raped by four men, who took breaks for tea and gutka before returning to assault her repeatedly under a bridge in the heart of Bhopal.
What happened after the rapists let her go was no less horrifying. Three police stations refused to take her complaint — although both her parents are in police — and a GRP officer mocked her for "coming with a filmy story".
The parents — her father is a sub inspector with a security force and mother with the CID — and the girl nabbed two of the suspects in a dramatic daylight scuffle on Wednesday. Only then was a complaint registered. An embarrassed police force suspended SI R N Tekam of MP Nagar police station on Thursday for not accepting her complaint.
The horrifying gang rape has shaken Bhopal, where people take pride in their city as one of the safest for women. The spot where she was raped has some of the busiest roads and rail tracks — the bustling Habibganj station is just 100 metres away, and an RPF post just 50m away. Thousands of cars drove past just 100 metres from where she was stripped, tied up and raped repeatedly. Yet, no one heard a thing.
The survivor shuttles between her hometown, about an hour's journey from Bhopal, every day as she is preparing for the UPSC exams.
On Tuesday evening, the complaint notes, after her coaching classes got over, she began her short walk along the tracks towards Habibganj station. Around 7pm, a man now identified as Golu Bihari Chadhar — out on bail after being charged in her infant daughter's murder — grabbed her by her hand. She kicked out and felled him. Angry, Golu called out to an accomplice, Amar Ghuntu, and the two of them started dragging her towards a nullah. The girl kept fighting and hit both of them with a stone.
Furious, they hit her with a stone as well, tied her up, and raped her. After around 15 minutes, Golu went to fetch gutka and cigarettes, the complaint notes, leaving Amar to watch over her. Amar and Golu are brothers-in-law and married to two sisters.
The girl asked for some clothes because hers had been torn to shreds. Golu went back and got some clothes, perhaps of his wife's — and also brought along two others to join in. She was raped again, this time Rajesh and Ramesh allegedly joining the other two. The horror went on till 10pm when the brothers-inlaw finally allowed her to dress and leave — but after she had handed over her earrings, watch and phone.
