BHOPAL: A group of advocates on Monday allegedly manhandled two persons accused of raping three girls of a private college after concealing their identity.
When the accused were being taken away from the district court premises here by police in a jeep, enraged lawyers hit them amid slogans of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', eyewitnesses said.
Senior advocate and co-chairman of the State Bar Council, Rajesh Vyas told reporters that lawyers, especially younger ones, are enraged with this incident and were protesting in a disciplined manner on the issue.
This struggle will continue and if such incidents recur, then they (those involved in it) will be hit, he added.
One of the accused, Saif Ali, was rescued and taken away safely, a police official said.
When asked about another accused carrying a saffron cloth, the official said police had not given it to him.
Maybe, he had taken it from the vehicle in which it was lying to cover himself, the official added.
Three girls from a private college in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal city were allegedly raped and blackmailed by men who concealed their identity, police said.
A case was registered against three persons under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) and MP Freedom of Religion Act, the official said.
"One of the accused, Farhan Ali alias Faraz, a former student of the college, befriended one of the girls when she was a minor two years ago by concealing his identity.
He allegedly raped her and shot a video of her and then blackmailed her.
His two friends also similarly trapped the other girls," the police official said.
The incident came to light on April 18 when the first victim approached Bag Sewania police station.
She alleged that the accused forced her to introduce her friends to his friends, and they sexually assaulted and blackmailed them.