How the Mhow rape and assault poses law and order problems for Mohan Yadav’s government

Two gruesome, back-to-back crimes against women have rocked Madhya Pradesh, posing a law and order challenge to the Mohan Yadav-led BJP government, which is accused by the opposition Congress of failing to keep criminals in check.

Police have made a breakthrough with three arrests in the case of the rape of a woman and physical assault of two accompanying Indian Army officers by a gang on September 11 near Mhow town in Indore district. The Army officers and the two women were on a night outing when they were attacked. Police have registered a case of gang rape, extortion and looting and launched a manhunt for four other suspects.

Police sources said they were informed about the crime in the early hours of September 11. The army officers, who were undergoing a training course for young officers at the Mhow Infantry School, had made their excursion near Jaam Gate, a tourist attraction on the Mhow-Mandleshwar road.

According to police reports, the car was parked on the street. At around 2 a.m., six men came and attacked one of the officers and a woman in the car. The other officer and the woman, who were a little further away in the woods, were also attacked as they returned to the vehicle.

According to the complaint registered at Manpur police station, the suspects demanded Rs 10 lakh and sent one of the officers and one of the women to collect the money. The officer informed his superiors and the police. The attackers – one of them had a gun – had fled by the time the police arrived. The police were informed that one of the women had been raped.

“All the accused are locals. They live in villages within a 15 km radius. Police teams have been sent to nab them,” Hitika Vasal, Indore Police Commissioner (Rural), told the media.

This is the second case of a gruesome crime against a woman in the state within a few days. Last week, a man was filmed raping a woman on a pavement in Ujjain and the person posted the video on social media. The suspect has been arrested. He is alleged to have given the woman alcohol to drink before raping her.

The crime took a political turn when Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi, expressed their shock. The Ujjain police also arrested the person who filmed the attack. The BJP claims he is a Congress worker.

Addressing the Mhow incident on X, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the BJP government in MP has failed to protect women. “Law and order is virtually non-existent in BJP-ruled states and the BJP government's negative attitude towards the rising crimes against women is extremely worrying,” Rahul wrote.

According to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau, MP has the fifth highest number of crimes against women. Uttar Pradesh tops the list, followed by Maharashtra, Rajasthan and West Bengal.

Former state chief minister and Congress MP Kamal Nath recently claimed that law and order had broken down in MP under the Mohan Yadav regime and violence against women had increased.

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