3 more victims of rape fall ill in MP, hospitalised

Days after an alleged rape victim died after consuming an overdose of sleeping pills in a governmentrun shelter home here, three girls, also victims of sexual exploitation, on Monday suddenly fell ill sounding an alarm to the police.

The three girls were among the five alleged rape victims who have been kept in the shelter home since July last year after the police busted a sex racket and arrested its alleged kingpin, Pyare Miyan, who is a newspaper owner.

Pyare Miyan was spotted by the police accompanying the five girls in his car. He was booked for running a sex racket and arrested.

One of the five alleged victims of sexual exploitation died after reportedly consuming an overdose of sleeping pills on January 21, sparking outrage among her kin.

Her body was not handed over to her family members and was cremated in the presence of the police, raising suspicion on the cover-up of her death by the police.

Later, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered a probe into the incident by a special investigation team of the

Madhya Pradesh police.

Sources said the three girls complained of nausea when the SIT (special investigation team) members visited them in the shelter home to probe the incident.

“The three girls complained of nausea when the SIT members started interrogating them. They were immediately shifted to the hospital,” an official of the shelter home told this newspaper requesting not to be quoted. On Saturday, another girl, an alleged victim of sexual abuse, fell sick and was admitted to the hospital.

Incidentally, the National Child Commission had earlier taken cognisance of the death of one of the five inmates of the shelter home and asked the state government to arrange for their counselling.

◗ THE GIRLS were among the five alleged rape victims who have been kept in a shelter home since July last year after the police busted a sex racket and arrested alleged kingpin Pyare Miyan, a newspaper owner