Lawyers gather at Ujjain district court to protest against rape accused, seek death penalty

Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh): Lawyers gathered at Ujjain district court on Friday to protest against the man accused of raping a minor girl in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain, demanding the death penalty for him.

The station in charge of the Ujjain's Mahakal police station, Ajay Kumar Verma, reached the court. "We are trying to provide complete security to the accused. He will be punished according to the law. We do not want any untoward incident to happen," Verma said. 

The president of the Ujjain Bar Association Ashok Yadav has said that the rape incident in the city has tarnished the image of society and lawyers will seek the death penalty for the accused in court.

Speaking to ANI on Friday, Ashok Yadav said, “This incident of rape that has happened in the ancient and peaceful city is something that tarnishes the whole society’s image and is shameful for the entire city. It seems that humanity is dead. We belong to a civilised society and if strict action is not taken against the accused, it will send the wrong message.”

“On behalf of the bar association, I appeal to all the lawyers that no one should represent the accused and I also warn the police administration that no truth should be twisted. Whenever there is a trial in the court, we will protest there and will demand a death sentence for the accused. No member of the bar association will stand with these (the accused) people,” he added.

According to Ujjain Superintendent of Police (SP) Sachin Sharma, the incident was reported within the jurisdiction of the Mahakal police station on September 25.

"As soon as we received the information, the girl was immediately taken for a medical examination. The girl was unable to inform the police about what had happened, so a counsellor was called to assist. The counsellor interacted with her and was able to confirm to the police about the assault,” SP Sharma said.

On medical grounds, a case was registered, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed for further investigation. The police launched a probe and collected all available technical evidence, based on which an auto driver was taken into custody.

“During questioning, some crucial facts came to light. Notably, a bloodstain was found in the backseat of the auto-rickshaw. The auto driver confessed that he was with the girl at the time of the incident. Even after this, we continued our investigation, and we have managed to determine that the girl is from Satna,” the SP said.

On Thursday, the police arrested the main accused Bharat Soni, a resident of Ujjain.

The police have arrested two accused in the case. Bharat Soni is the main accused against whom a case has been registered under IPC section 376 and the POCSO Act. The second accused is the auto driver Rakesh Malviya in connection with suppressing evidence.

“There is an accused in the rape case. Another auto driver will also face a case for not informing the police about the incident. Since the victim did not disclose the crime scene initially, we were taking the accused for a re-creation of the crime scene. During this, the accused tried to escape and got injured, along with one of our police officers. Both of them have been provided with medical assistance.” SP Sharma added. (ANI)