Autorickshaw driver detained, five being questioned in Ujjain minor rape survivor case
Ujjain (MP) (PTI): Police have taken into a custody an autorickshaw driver in connection with the rape of a girl, who was found bleeding on a street in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain city, and five others are also being questioned in the case, a senior official said on Thursday.
The police have also found some blood stains on the passenger seat of the autorickshaw of the detained man, he said.
According to Ujjain police, a counsellor interacted with the minor rape victim, and found that the latter belongs to Satna district.
However, police in Satna said whether she is the same girl about whom a missing person's report was filed will be confirmed after her family identifies her.
The girl, around 12 years of age, was found bleeding on a street located under the Mahakal police station area in Ujjain on Monday.
After being found, she was taken to a hospital, where her initial medical examination confirmed that she had been raped, police have said.
The girl was on Wednesday operated upon by a team of specialist doctors in Indore and her condition is said to be critical but stable, they said.
"The police have taken an autorickshaw driver into custody on the basis of a video footage. We also found some blood stains on the passenger seat of the autorickshaw, " Ujjain SP Sachin Sharma said.
"Five others are also being questioned," he said.
The girl's identity is yet to be established as she could not tell her name, age and address to the police properly.
"A counsellor interacted with the victim and found that she belongs to Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, where a report of a missing girl was filed at Jaitwara police station (in Satna) on September 25," he said.
Further probe into the incident is being carried out through a Special Investigation Team (SIT), he added.
Meanwhile, Satna's Additional Superintendent of Police Shivesh Singh Baghel said the missing person's report about a girl, aged around 13 years and wearing a school uniform, had been filed at Jaitwara police station.
The minor is a little cognitively-challenged as per the report filed by her family members, he said.
"After reading the news reports and seeing the images of the victim in a school uniform, police suspect that the rape survivor is the same missing girl. Accordingly, a team of police along with the victim's family members was sent to Ujjain for her identification," he said.
"If they identify the victim, further legal action will be taken in the matter," Baghel added.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday slammed the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh over the incident, alleging that girls, women, tribals and Dalits are not safe under the "misrule" of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"The brutality meted out to a little girl in Ujjain, the city of Lord Mahakal, is soul-shattering. After the torture, she kept wandering from door to door for help for two-and-a-half hours and then fell unconscious on the road but could not get help," she said on X.
"Is this the state of law and order and women's safety in Madhya Pradesh? Girls, women, tribals and Dalits are not safe in the 20 years of BJP's misrule," the Congress general secretary said.
The Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh of being incapable of protecting the dignity of women and girls in the state after a video clip of the 12-year-old rape victim found bleeding on a street in Ujjain went viral on social media.
Amid massive public outrage, MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra announced on Wednesday that an SIT has been formed to probe the shocking crime.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
