BHOPAL: A 20-year-old student, on her way back from coaching, was molested by two co-passengers in a shared autorickshaw on Wednesday evening. She jumped from the running auto to save herself when she saw the driver heading for a dark, deserted area.
Her ordeal didn't end there. She had to shuttle between three police stations all night before a fourth agreed to file a zero FIR at dawn the next day. There are no arrests yet.
The survivor, a BA student, hails from another city and has taken a room on rent here to prepare for competitive exams. She attends a coaching centre in MP Nagar. After classes got over on Wednesday evening, she got into a shared auto, as usual, around 7pm.
There were two other women passengers but they got down at Chetak Bridge, she has told police. A little later, two men boarded the auto and sat beside her. When the vehicle started moving, they began molesting her. She fought back and asked the auto driver to stop, but he ignored her cries and started driving through darkened stretches, she says in her complaint. The auto veered towards Subhash Nagar and she could sense that the driver planned to stop at a dark spot. She began screaming for help, but the driver accelerated towards Ashoka Garden. When the auto slowed down at a speedbreaker, the girl jumped off and sprinted away.
She went to Ashoka Garden police station, but her complaint was referred to MP Nagar police station and then to Govindpura police station before Govindpura police station registered a zero FIR around 4am on Thursday.
Girl jumps off moving auto to save herself
She began screaming for help, but the driver accelerated towards Ashoka Garden. When the auto slowed down at a speed-breaker, the girl jumped off and sprinted away.
She went to Ashoka Garden police station, but her complaint was referred to MP Nagar police station and then to Govindpura police station before Govindpura police station registered a zero FIR around 4am on Thursday. The case diary was then transferred to Aishbagh police station as the crime had taken place in its jurisdiction.
Aishbagh police are investigating the case but don't have any suspects yet. SHO Manish Raj Bhadouria said police are scanning CCTV footage of the route to identify the auto and the accused.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
