On the night of April 23, a 40-year-old woman kept in quarantine was gang-raped by three men at a school in Sawai Madhopur district in Rajasthan. The woman was kept at the school as she could not go to her hometown Jaipur due to the lockdown. The three accused have been arrested while a head constable has been suspended for negligence. An inquiry into the matter has been ordered by the District Collector Nannu Mal Pahadia.
Secuirty lapse
The victim was stuck in Sawai Madhopur district for over a month, owing to travel restrictions that were imposed in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak. When she reached the Dausa village on 23rd April, the local authorities decided to put her up at a local school. According to SP Sudheer Choudhary, the decision to quarantine the victim at the school was made by the head constable, Lal Chand, along with two teachers in the presence of around 40-odd people. When the teachers left for their respective homes, the three accused took advantage of the night and committed the heinous crime.
The SP accused the head constable of “prima facie” negligence. He also pointed out that a lady police officer or a local woman should have accompanied the victim on the fateful night of April 23. He also raised questions about the “casual attitude” of the teachers working at the said school.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Parth Sharma said police had given the charge of the stranded woman to “some responsible people” of the village. “But taking benefit of the night, three men did wrong with her and threatened her. In the morning of April 24, she submitted a complaint and we lodged an FIR and arrested the three,” he said.
Stranded in lockdown
Reportedly, the woman had come to Dausa to meet her son who is an accused in the gang-rape case of an underage girl. The Superintendent of Police informed that her son was shifted from a Jaipur jail to Dausa, owing to the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic. She was thus wandering around the said district of Rajasthan for one month. The victim was initially named in the gang-rape case as an accused involving her son but was acquitted of all charges in March 2019.
Following her medical examination, the woman was sent to a quarantine facility.