Jailed woman was 'gang-raped by police' for 10 days in India's Madhya Pradesh state

A 20-year-old Indian woman who was jailed on charges of murder has alleged that she was gang-raped in lock up for 10 days in May, Indian media has reported.

According to Times of India, the woman has accused five police personnel of the crime, including the police station in-charge and sub-divisional police officer, in Madhya Pradesh state's Rewa district

She made the explosive claims on October 10 while the additional district judge and a team of lawyers were on a visit to inspect the jail premises. The woman added that she informed a female constable but she was "rebuked by her seniors".

An inquiry was ordered by the district judge and Rewa SP Rakesh Singh was asked to take action. The SP said he has yet to receive the court's orders, adding that the woman "is a murder accused".

The report by TOI states that the woman claimed she was raped between May 9 and May 21, with the police insisting May 21 was the day she was arrested — five days after a woman named Sudha Verna was murdered in a village falling within the Mangawan police station jurisdiction.

SP Singh said the woman and a male friend were arrested on May 21 "on the basis of call details, mobile location and other evidence".

Advocate Satish Mishra, speaking about why the woman hadn't come forward sooner, said: “We asked why she hadn’t spoken up earlier, she said she had told the warden three months ago. Also, she pointed out, policemen had done this to her and there were policemen in jail too, so she was scared.”

The woman further claimed that she had been threatened that her father would be framed in the murder case if she dared to speak about the crime.

A female warden later admitted that the woman had informed her about the crime.

Rape cases in India are on the rise with the country reporting last year an average of 87 new rape cases each day and 405,861 cases of crimes against women during the year.

This was a 7% rise from the rape crimes since 2018 according to data released by the National Crime Records Bureau.