A ten-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by two men on the premises of the famed “Sharda” temple in Madhya Pradesh’s Maihar district on Friday.
According to sources, the girl was recovered in a severely injured state with a wooden stick inserted in her private parts.
Soon after preliminary treatment at a near-by hospital, the survivor was rushed to a another hospital for surgery.
The barbaric incident took place in Satna district, on the premises of the ‘Ma Sharda’ temple, a famous Hindu temple in Vindhya region of the state .
As per police, the two accused have been arrested.
“We found the victim lying unconscious on the ground and rushed her to a nearby
hospital. Medical report confirmed “brutal rape” leading to serious injuries. She has been referred to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, Rewa. I am yet to receive final report from the doctors. However, it has been learnt that she has regained consciousness,” said a senior police official.
BJP MLA from Maihar (Satna) Narayan Tripathi told IANS that both the accused are around 25-30 years of age and are employees of ‘Ma Sharda’ temple committee.
“A shameful incident has occurred on the premises of the Sharda temple, which is revered by Hindus across the country. The two arrested turned out to be the employees of the temple committee. The survivor has gained consciousnesses, and hopefully her condition will improve,” he said.
Tripathi said its a matter of concern that the “shameful” incident occurred within the the temple premises and the accused belong to temple committee. “It needs to be investigated in detail and the accused given rigorous punishment,” Tripathi added.
According to police, the survivor also lives on the same premises as her parents run a shop of flowers and ‘pooja samagri’ for the devotees visiting the shrine.
Notably, the ‘Ma Sharda’ temple is located on the Trikut mountain at a height of 600 ft from the surface in Satna district, around 130 km from Chitrakoot.
The incident has sparked a political controversy in the state heading for Assembly elections in four months.
State Congress Media in-charge K. K. Mishra claimed that the victim belongs to a tribal family. An inhuman act has occurred in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh an has come as a grim reminder of Delhi’s horrific ‘Nirbhaya’ case,” Mishra told IANS over phone.
He demanded that the BJP’s central leadership should take action against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state Home Minister Narottam Mishra.
“This is the BJP’s ‘swarna yuga’ in Madhya Pradesh where Chouhan calls himself ‘Mama’. He should immediately resign from the Chief Minister’s post on moral ground,” Mishra added.
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