Woman Kidnapped From Kota-Etawah Express, Gang-Raped

A 22-year-old woman was allegedly abducted from the Kota-Etawah Express and gang-raped by three men who held her hostage for five hours, officials said on Monday.

Based on the complaint lodged by her father on Sunday, the incident took place when the woman was returning from her maternal uncle’s home in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind.

He said that his daughter was administered a sedative that rendered her unconscious and the accused abducted her from the train on October 12.

The complainant had boarded the Kota-Etawah Express from Soni railway station in Bhind for Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, Superintendent of Police (SP) (Etawah Rural) Satyapal Singh said.

An unidentified man started recording a video of the woman on the train to which she protested and changed her coach. The man looked suspicious so she clicked his photo, Singh said citing the complaint.

However, the man followed her into the coach, made her unconscious and kidnapped her, the officer said.

After the woman regained consciousness, she found herself among the three men who had raped her and held her hostage for five hours, the SP said.

The accused had switched off her mobile phone and later abandoned her on a highway near Ujjaini village in an unconscious state, he said.

Locals helped the woman contact her family and reported the matter to police, Singh added.

The officer said a Zero FIR was lodged at the local Bakevar police station on the basis of the complaint from the family and the matter has been handed over to the Government Railway Police (GRP) for further investigation and action.

The FIR was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 70 (1) (gang rape), among others, according to the police.