Akhilesh seeks strict punishment for Ayodhya gang-rape accused

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday demanded strict punishment for the accused in the alleged gang rape of a woman sweeper who works at the Ayodhya Ram Janmbhoomi temple complex.He also sought punitive action against irresponsible policemen.The 20-year-old woman accused nine people of rape.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday demanded strict punishment for the accused in the alleged gang rape of a woman sweeper who works at the Ayodhya Ram Janmbhoomi temple complex.

He also sought punitive action against ''irresponsible policemen''.

The 20-year-old woman accused nine people of rape. According to her complaint lodged at Ayodhya's Cantt police station, she was gang-raped on three different occasions between August 16 and 25.

Yadav shared on X a 13-second clip of the woman narrating her ordeal, including lack of cooperation from the police.

''The video statement of a gang-rape victim in Ayodhya has revealed the root cause of the increasing cases of harassment and atrocities against women in Uttar Pradesh, how the victim had to suffer to file a report due to some insensitive policemen,'' he said in the post accompanying the video.

''Due to the complexity of filing a report, many crimes are not even registered, which boosts the criminals' morale,'' he said in Hindi. Yadav demanded that justice be done to the victim and strict punitive action taken against the criminals as well as the irresponsible policemen.

The police have so far arrested five men in this connection. Superintendent of Police (City) Madhuvan Singh said on Friday that the arrested accused were identified as Vansh, Vinay, Shariq, Shiva and Udit.

''Three of them were arrested the day after the FIR was lodged and two others held within a couple of days. Further investigation is ongoing,'' Singh said.

The FIR was registered on September 2.

In her complaint, the woman said she worked as a sanitation worker at the Ram temple complex and was a BA final-year student at a local college.

She named seven people in her complaint. The two other accused were unidentified. The police have registered a case under sections 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 75 (sexual harassment) and 70(1) (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)