Woman Raped by Three Men in Rajasthan at a School During Lockdown

A middle-aged woman from Jaipur, stuck in Sawai Madhopur since the lockdown began, was allegedly raped by three men at a school on the morning on April 24.

New Delhi: A middle-aged woman from Jaipur was allegedly raped by three men at a school in Sawai Madhopur early in the morning on April 24, reported the Indian Express. She had been stuck in Sawai Madhopur since the lockdown began.

On Thursday, she once again attempted to travel to Jaipur but lost her way. Three men found her and raped her at a school at around 2 am. The next morning, the woman reached a local police station and filed an FIR. The three accused have now been arrested.

In her statement to the police, she has said that before the lockdown she had gone to visit her son in Dausa jail who is an accused in another gangrape case, the Indian Express reported. The woman too was an accused in the case but acquitted in 2019. From Dausa, she was unable to travel back to Jaipur due to the lockdown and was left stranded in Sawai Madhopur.

Sawai Madhopur SP Sudheer Choudhary told Indian Express, “Her son was shifted from a jail in Jaipur to Dausa due to coronavirus. She had been moving around in the district for the past month. On April 23, when she reached a village, the beat constable informed the head constable about her.”

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Choudhary also said that a collective decision was reached to house the woman at the school. “A collective decision was taken by the head constable, along with two government teachers and the villagers, to make her stay at the local school for the night. The school teachers subsequently left for their homes and the three men raped the woman,” he said.

The constable has now been suspended. “Either a lady constable or a (local) lady should have been made to stay with her,” the SP said.

Deputy superintendent of police Parth Sharma said that the police had put ‘some responsible people’ in charge of her. “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.