Ujjain Minor Rape: Semi-naked and bleeding, she went door to door asking for help.
One person has been taken into custody in connection with the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh, who went door to door in asking for help but received none. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra told NDTV, "A SIT has been formed and a suspect has been taken into custody. The girl is not able to speak properly now. She does not seem to be from Ujjain..." He also said the girl - who was finally taken to hospital, where doctors confirmed she had been raped - is now stable.
In an incident that has triggered shock, shame and rage in equal measure, the girl was semi-naked and bleeding as she went from door to door begging for help, only to be shooed away. In one particularly heart-breaking moment, CCTV footage from a street about 15 km from Ujjain shows the girl approaching a man for help only to be turned away.
Senior police officer Sachin Sharma said the girl is still unable to identify herself or her family, but her accent suggests she is from Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj, which is nearly 900 km away.
Police have registered a rape case against unidentified individuals and raised charges of child abuse under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The horrific incident comes shortly before state polls and the opposition has ripped into the BJP government led by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Congress leader and ex-Chief Minister Kamal Nath has accused the BJP of making Madhya Pradesh "(the) most unsafe state for women". "The safety of daughters is just a subject of ads and speeches for this government," he said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala accused Mr Chouhan's government of offering false promises and making fake claims to the people of the state.
The Ujjain shocker has renewed focus on the state's dismal record on violence against women.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, between 2019 and 2021 Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra reported the most disappearances of women and girls. In 2021 Madhya Pradesh reported the most incidents of rapes (per state) in - 6,462, 50 per cent of which were minors.
In other words, 18 minors were raped every day in Madhya Pradesh in 2021.