Guna (Madhya Pradesh): A 20-year-old woman was raped by an online friend who blackmailed her of leaking photos and harassed her for a year and a half in Guna.
The woman, originally from Bamori, explained that she moved to Guna about two and a half years ago due to her family's poor financial situation. Her father is mentally ill, her mother is a housewife, and her younger brother is still studying. She started working at a private company in Guna and sent her salary home to support her family.
In 2022, she met a man on Instagram who introduced himself as Bhaiyyu. They began talking on the phone and eventually met in person as he also lived in Guna. They took several photos together, and he learned that she lived alone in a rented room. One day, he showed up at her place, threatened to kill her family, and forcibly raped her while recording the act. He then used the photos and videos to blackmail her into continued sexual abuse and physical assault.
The accused, who had befriended her on social media under the name "Bhaiyyu." He pressured her to change her religion and physically abused her. The victim had to change her residence three times due to his relentless harassment.
The Accused, Arshad |
The woman discovered the truth about Bhaiyyu when she found several Muslim contacts on his phone. He then revealed his real name was Arshad. After this, he increased his pressure on her to convert to his religion and adhere to his cultural dress code, demanding she wear traditional suits and a burqa instead of jeans. He also forced her to leave work to meet him whenever he wanted and frequently showed up at her rented room, causing her landlords to evict her multiple times.
Arshad's abuse and torture continued for 18 months, during which he even assaulted her in public. A shopkeeper once questioned why she tolerated the abuse, but she endured it out of fear for her family and societal stigma. The constant harassment left her with visible marks of abuse on her face and body and no smile on her face for a year and a half.
Finally, someone informed her about the Hindu Jagran Manch. She contacted the district coordinator, Advocate Dilip Kumar Rajak, who encouraged her to take action. She then filed a complaint against Arshad. Kotwali police station in-charge Anup Bhargava confirmed that an FIR has been registered against the accused based on the woman's complaint.
