Screengrab from the viral video of the incident (Image: Organiser)
In a shocking display of barbarism, Salim Khan attempted to kidnap a Hindu woman from her home in front of her family in Madhya Pradesh’s Ashoknagar district on May 30. This act of violence was prompted by the family’s decision to arrange her marriage elsewhere. Salim had previously raped the woman and filmed the assault, using the video to blackmail and defame her. He sought to intimidate the family into cancelling her arranged marriage without his consent.
Later in the day, on May 31, Kalu alias Salim Khan, a 22-year-old man, was arrested for raping and attempting to abduct the 21-year-old woman.
On May 30th, a video went viral showing Salim and his accomplices brandishing swords and iron rods, attempting to pull the woman from her home. The timely intervention of neighbours thwarted the kidnapping.
On the evening of the incident, Salim, along with his accomplices Jodha, Sameer, and Shahrukh, forcibly entered the woman’s home around six o’clock.
When the girl’s family tried to stop them, Salim got angry and attacked them using swords, sticks, kicks and what not. They attacked her family, breaking her brother’s arm and her father’s leg, while her mother was severely beaten. As the family cried out for help, neighbours gathered, forcing the perpetrators to flee.
Despite Salim’s threats against the woman’s family and her fiancé’s family, the victim was left behind as the crowd grew larger.
Initially, the police were reluctant to file a report. However, after the intervention of local Hindu organisation members, a case was registered based on complaints from the woman and her father on the evening of May 29.
Ashoknagar Superintendent of Police Vineet Jain confirmed the main accused raped the woman, recorded the act, and threatened her family to prevent her marriage to anyone else. When the family arranged her marriage, Salim, accompanied by three others, assaulted her family members and attempted to abduct her, but neighbours intervened, and Salim fled the scene wielding a sword.
Two First Information Reports (FIRs) have been filed in this matter. The woman lodged the first complaint, accusing Salim of rape under Section 376 and attempted kidnapping under Section 363. Her father filed the second complaint, citing charges of voluntarily causing harm (Section 323), using obscene language (Section 294), and criminal intimidation (Section 506). Authorities are currently conducting raids to apprehend the other culprits involved.
Notably, after the registration of the FIRs and the arrest of the accused, the district administration demolished the illegal construction done by Salim’s family in the city. Madhya Pradesh has a strict law in place against the mafias and rapists, this often goes by the name, ‘Bulldozer trial’.
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