New Delhi: A late-night picnic by two trainee Indian Army officers and their female friends turned into a nightmare when a group of eight criminals surrounded and brutally assaulted them. They also allegedly raped one of the two females in the group, PTI reported, citing police sources.
The incident took place on Tuesday in the Mhow cantonment area in Madhya Pradesh’s Mhow. Police said the officers, aged 23 and 24, were undergoing a Young Officers (YO) course at the Infantry School of Mhow cantonment town.
According to the Badgonda police station in-charge, Lokendra Singh Hirore, the officers and their friends were surrounded by a group of 6-7 people at around 2 am at the picnic spot on Mhow-Mandleshwar Road. The criminals, whose intention initially seemed to rob them, started beating one of the officers and a female who were sitting in the car. On noticing some unusual activity, the other officer and the woman, sitting at a distance on a hilltop, came to the spot. According to the complaints filed by one of the officers, the attackers held the officer and the female in the car hostage at gunpoint and asked the other officer to bring Rs 10 lakh in ransom.
Taking the opportunity to move away from the scene, the other officer informed his seniors in Mhow who alerted the police. When police and army teams reached the spot, the criminals escaped.
The Army officers and their female friends were brought to Mhow Civil Hospital for a medical check-up. The medical report confirmed that one of the women was raped.
According to reports, the police have registered a case under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita’s section 70 (gangrape), 310-2 (dacoity), 308-2 (extortion), 115-2 (voluntarily causing hurt), and the Arms Act.
Additional Superintendent of Police Rupesh Dwivedi told the Times of India that six suspects have been identified, and two have been detained.
The Indian Express quoted Indore Rural SP Hitika Vasal as saying, “We arrested two men. One of them has a case of loot registered against him in 2016. This was not an organised gang. They saw these young people who had gathered at a night spot and decided to attack them. One person also had a pistol on him.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has termed this incident as a disgrace to the entire society. “The violence against two soldiers and the assault on their female companion in Madhya Pradesh is enough to bring shame to the entire society. The law and order in BJP-ruled states is almost non-existent, and the government’s indifferent attitude toward the growing crimes against women is deeply concerning,” he commented in Hindi on X.
