CM Baghel suspends seven policemen for inaction

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Bhagel on Thursday announced the suspension of seven policemen for their alleged inaction in a gang-rape case in Balrampur district, after home minister Tamardhwaj Sahu defended the police in the assembly and said there was no laxity.

Sahu is a member of Congress’s Central Working Committee. He was a front-runner for the chief minister’s post after Congress won the 2018 Chhattisgarh assembly elections and ended the Bharatiya Janata Party’s 15-year rule in the state.

Baghel announced the suspension of station house officer (SHO) Umesh Baghel, sub-inspectors Akhilesh Singh and K P Singh and constables Johan Toppo, Sudhir Singh, Ajay Prajapati, Sashi Tirki in the state assembly after Congress lawmaker Brihaspat Singh raised the issue of the 12-year-old girl’s rape.

Singh said the girl was returning home along with another girl when she was raped on February 19. “Two youths on a motorcycle tried to abduct both the girls. While one escaped, the other was abducted. They brought the minor girl to village Dahejwar where one more accused was waiting. All three raped the minor and fled,” Singh said.

Singh said when the girl’s parents rushed to the local police station to register a case, the SHO asked them whether they saw their daughter being raped. “The SHO refused to register the complaint and did not provide medical treatment.

He also threatened the parents not to inform anyone about the incident.”

Sahu earlier said the case was registered on February 20 against the three accused under the relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. He added the three accused were arrested and an investigation was going on.

“Police is working on the behest of some people in the state,” BJP spokesperson Gauri Shankar Shrivas said.

TWO YOUTHS ON A MOTORCYCLE TRIED TO ABDUCT BOTH THE GIRLS. WHILE ONE ESCAPED, THE OTHER WAS ABDUCTED.