Woman raped in Morbi, mob sets house of accused on fire | Rajkot News

The accused then took the woman to her uncle’s farm in a village in Morbi district and raped her, police were told. He also allegedly subjected her to unnatural sex before stabbing her.

“The accused, who is from a different community, is a bootlegger with seven cases of prohibition and assault registered against him. He has also spent time in jail after being detained under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities (PASA) Act,” a senior police officer of Morbi district police said, adding, “The woman, who is also a native of the village where the accused lives, was in touch with him for the past five years after her marriage ended in divorce.”

According to the FIR, the woman managed to run away from the farm. With the help of a gateman at a railway crossing in the village, she then contacted her family and was rushed to a hospital in Morbi for treatment.

Based on her complaint, Morbi police booked the accused for kidnapping, rape, unnatural sex, and voluntarily causing hurt among other charges.

“We launched the FIR at around 12 pm on Friday and formally arrested the accused at 2 pm,” a police officer of Morbi said.

Hours after the arrest of the man, the woman’s father, brother, uncle, two cousins, and seven others allegedly vandalised the house of the accused at around 5 pm on Friday.

According to an FIR registered on the basis of a complaint given by the sister of the accused, a mob of around 15 came rushing to their residence with wooden sticks, axes, and bottles of petrol, started abusing the man’s parents, two sisters and a brother before vandalising the house.

Later, they set on fire the house as well as a rickshaw which was parked in the street and belonged to the family of the accused. The rioters fled the spot after people from neighbourhood gathered at the spot.

Responding to a distress call made by the accused’s younger brother, a police team reached the village and doused the fire. However, by that time, several household belongings were gutted, the FIR states.

“The woman’s family members apparently torched the accused man’s house. Our team rushed to the spot and doused the fire. After the rape accused’s sister gave a complaint, we booked 12 men for unlawful assembly, rioting, criminal intimidation, setting a house on fire, house trespass and have arrested four of them,” the senior police officer further said.

Among those arrested for rioting and setting the accused’s house on fire include the woman’s father, brother, cousin, and another person from her extended family. “Normalcy has returned to the village but as a precautionary measure, we have continued police deployment in the village on Saturday,” a police sub-inspector of the police station in whose jurisdiction the accused’s house is located, said.