People slap four rape accused as MP cops parade them on Bhopal streets

Police arrested four men accused of raping a woman and paraded them through Bhopal’s streets on Sunday afternoon. Some people watching the four being marched through the streets slapped them, a practice that is increasingly being reported from across Madhya Pradesh following chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s recent call to the police to crack down on crimes against women.

The woman was allegedly raped by her former boyfriend and another person on Saturday. The men had help from two accomplices, said police. .

Bhopal (south) superintendent of police (South) Rahul Lodha said all four accused were booked for gang-rape and abduction, among other charges.

Lodha said the woman’s former boyfriend asked her on Saturday to meet him at a restaurant, claiming he had something important to tell her. While she reached, he snatched her mobile phone and told her that if she wanted it back, she would have to come with him to his friend’s room, Lodha added. She was forced to go with him on his motorcycle, said the SP.

When they reached the room, three other friends of her former boyfriend were already there. Two of them raped her, while the other two kept guard, said Lodha.

The woman escaped from their clutches and lodged a complaint with the police on Sunday morning, Lodha added.