FIR Against Madhya Pradesh Journalist For Raping Girls, Woman Accomplice Held

A case has been registered against an elderly journalist and his female accomplice in Bhopal on Sunday in connection with the alleged rape of several girls. The accused woman has been taken into custody, while the man is absconding. The district police have announced reward money in exchange for information to help them arrest the accused.

What You Should Know

• Early morning on Sunday, the police caught a few girls, including minors, roaming around in an inebriated state around the Ratibarh area of the city.
• After questioning, the girls revealed that they were reportedly hired as birthday-party dancers by Pyare Miya, a journalist.
• One girl told that police that she was allegedly raped at the said party by Pyare Miya. The remaining girls revealed that they had also been allegedly raped in the same flat by the accused on earlier occasions.
• A case has been registered against Pyare Miya (68) and his assistant Sweety Vishwakarma (21). 

The Case

In the wee hours of Sunday, the police caught a few girls, including minors. The police called the child helpline and later questioned the girls, who told them that a man named Pyare Miya had hired them to dance at a birthday party during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday in a flat near the Shahpura area of the city. At the party, they were reportedly made to consume alcohol. One of the girls alleged that she was raped there by the man. The remaining four girls revealed that they had also been reportedly raped in the same flat by the accused on earlier occasions.

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A case was filed on Sunday against Pyare Miya (68) under relevant sections of the IPC, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. According to police, the girls were hired by Pyare Milan's 21-year-old assistant, Sweety Vishwakarma. A case has also been registered against Vishwakarma. The case has been registered at the Ratibad police station and it will be transferred to the Shahpura police station, as the crime took place there, as per reports.

New Development

An illegal marriage hall owned by the rape accused was demolished by the police on Monday, hours after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan directed authorities to not spare those involved in crime against girls. Irshad Wali, Bhopal’s deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, said that the Police have gotten “a three-day remand from the court for interrogation of Sweety Vishwakarma, who worked as an assistant to Pyare Miya.”

Mangla Prasad Mishra, the director in the directorate of public relations (DPR), stated that the accused’s state-level accreditation as a journalist had been cancelled, “as per accreditation rules due to his involvement in a crime.” In a letter to the chief secretary, Mishra also announced that the allotment of government bungalow to Miya stood cancelled.

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Since the minors, in their statements, revealed that they had attended several such parties in the past, the police is now suspecting that there might be a bigger sex racket being run. “More girls are expected to come… with their complaints as he has been raping the minor girls who are from the weaker section for a long time after forcing them to consume liquor,” said Archana Sahay, the director of Childline.

Dyuti Gupta is an intern with SheThePeople.TV.