Woman gang-raped in M.P., four held

A 19-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by four men in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district, police said on Wednesday (August 6, 2025).

Police said the incident took place on Tuesday (August 5, 2025) afternoon when the woman and her friend visited a forested area under Churhat police station limits. The four accused have been arrested. 

Sidhi Superintendent of Police Ravindra Verma told The Hindu that finding the couple in a secluded area, the accused followed them. 

“They thrashed the man and while he ran to seek help, the accused raped the woman,” Mr. Verma said, adding that the woman and her friend reported the incident at Semaria police station. 

Mr. Verma said five teams of 10 personnel each were formed to trace the accused. “Three were nabbed overnight, while one man had been hiding atop a nearby hill. Our teams searched for him for 10 hours and caught him on Wednesday evening,” he said. 

An FIR has been filed under relevant provisions against the four accused, he added. 

Following the incident, State Congress president Jitu Patwari slammed the State’s ruling BJP over the incident and said such incidents prove the “failure of the government”.

“When will the horror of cases of Dalit, tribal, and women’s oppression decrease? When will the government ensure their safety? In the past three years, 7,418 cases of rape of Dalit and tribal women, 558 murders, and 338 gang rapes have been recorded in Madhya Pradesh! The figures recorded in the government report itself reveal that on average, seven Dalit/tribal women are raped every day,” Mr. Patwari wrote on Twitter, while tagging Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, who also heads the Home Department.