In the Etapalli taluka of Gadchiroli, a peon of a primary health centre allegedly raped a four-and-a-half-year-old tribal girl on March 9. After being traumatised and left bleeding for several hours without medical attention, the minor girl was taken to Pendhri Health Centre and driven 70 km in a dilapidated vehicle to a women’s hospital at the district headquarters. From there, she was sent to Nagpur, which is 200 km away.
The current Member of Parliament (MP) from Gadchiroli, Ashok Mahadeorao Nete, is from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The three MLAs from the district are Raje Dharamrao Baba Atram (NCP AP), Dr. Deorao Madguji Holi (BJP) and Shri. Krushna Damaji Gajbe (BJP). Gadchiroli district has only one Gadchiroli-Chimur Lok Sabha Parliamentary Constituency and three Assembly Constituencies.
According to a Times of India report, the incident mentioned above has caused a deep unrest in the area. Anger-filled people have stormed the health centre and locked it down, demanding that the missing physicians be punished and that the rapist be hanged. The report claims that only after the widespread protests did the police and government moved quickly to put out fires and fired the three contractual doctors who were not present. Furthermore, on the evening of March 12, 2024, medical officer Dr. Lokeshkumar Kotwar—who also serves as the district malaria officer— was swiftly deputed to the Jarawandi primary health centre.
Notably, commandos in plainclothes were dispatched to Fulbodi, a tribal dominated area, where the accused is allegedly. The Superintendent of Police Gadchiroli, Neelotpal, provided that “The rape accused was nabbed within hours of the crime from his hideout, 20km off Jarawandi. It was a risky operation but we succeeded”, as per the TOI report.
Related:
Not livable in summer, Chitrakut PM-Awas houses ‘push’ tribals in moneylender trap