18-year-old woman run over by train ‘while trying to escape rape attempt’ in Madhya Pradesh

An 18-year-old woman was run over by a train while escaping a group of men trying to rape her in Madhya Pradesh, her father has said.

The woman had gone to relieve herself close to the railway tracks in Govindpura village of Datia district at around 5.30am on Monday when two men from the village tried to rape her, the father said. His daughter ran but was hit by a train, he said.

Sources, however, said the man informed police after the woman was cremated.

“At present, we can’t comment over the reason behind the girl’s death. Police have registered a case and are investigating,” Datia superintendent of police Irshad Wali said.

Police sources said the father gave a different version of events earlier. He told police the two men, who lived in their locality, had pushed the girl



in front of the train, sources said.

But Yadav said the woman’s aunt was an eyewitness to the incident and she was the one who informed the family.

Most villagers didn’t have toilets and harassment of girls was common, Yadav said.

To stop open defecation, the Madhya Pradesh government has launched various schemes to encourage people to build toilets under the ambitious Swachh Bharat, or Clean India, initiative of the Modi government.

Of the state’s 11.2 million households, 52% didn’t have a toilet,

Hymavathi Varman, state coordinator for Swachh Bharat Mission, had told HT in October. The state had built more than two million toilets in the last two years and set a target of 5.5 million for the next two years, she said.