Madhya Pradesh: Woman raped on busy street in Ujjain, passersby record video without intervening

A woman was raped on a footpath in the busy Koyla Phatak area of Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain on Wednesday, the police said, The Indian Express reported.

Passersby recorded videos of the crime without intervening to stop the perpetrator, according to the police.

Om Prakash Mishra, Ujjain’s city superintendent of police, said that the woman came to the police station at 3.30 pm on Thursday to complain of rape.

“Immediately a woman officer was called, her story was heard and an FIR [first information report] was registered after informing senior officers,” he added.

In her complaint, the woman accused a man named Lokesh of the crime.

Lokesh was arrested within two hours of the woman’s complaint, the newspaper quoted Mishra as saying. “[He] was brought to the police station and questioned, during which Lokesh admitted to committing the crime,” the police official said.

Lokesh was subsequently presented before a court that remanded him to judicial custody.

Mishra told The Indian Express that a video of the incident recorded by a passerby was taken as evidence in the case.

The newspaper quoted an unidentified police official as alleging that the man “promised to marry the victim, made her drink liquor and then raped her.”

The political row

The incident led to a row between the Congress and the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Congress’ Madhya Pradesh chief Jitu Patwari said that...

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