Congress corners BJP over Bhopal gang rape

The survivor, daughter of a police couple, was allegedly raped by four men on Tuesday night in the vicinity of the Habibganj railway station in Bhopal.

Bhopal, Nov 4: The Congress on Saturday said the gang- rape of a 19-year-old woman in the heart of the state capital, Bhopal, was a "blot" on the BJP goverment in Madhya Pradesh.

Leader of Opposition in the assembly Ajay Singh slammed police for its lackadaisical attitude in registering a complaint of the survivor and criticised Home Minister Bhupendra Singh over his absence from the state capital when the heinous crime took place four days back.

"Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan should pull up his home minister as well as the DGP as the shameful incident took place right in the middle of the city and is a blot on the face of the BJP government," he said in a statement here.

"If such a serious crime can take place in the state capital, and police dilly-dally on filing an FIR, then one can imagine the situation in rural areas," the Congress MLA said.

Singh said the home minister has been ineffective in the past also and was slow to react to incidents like firing on farmers in Mandsaur in June and beating of farmers in a police lock-up in Tikamgarh. While the chief minister chaired a meeting and gave directions to the police after the gang-rape incident, the home minister remained absent from the scene, he said.

The survivor, daughter of a police couple, was allegedly raped by four men on Tuesday night in the vicinity of the Habibganj railway station here. The accused have been arrested. Five police officials were suspended and a senior cop was transferred by the goverment over delay in filing an FIR in connection with the offence.

PTI