Surendranagar, Oct 7: Nine people, including two women, have been arrested in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district after a married woman was allegedly assaulted, illegally confined and gang-raped during a purported “purification” ritual over her relationship with another man, with videos of the incident later circulated on social media, police said.

The case came to light after videos showing the woman being subjected to violence and humiliation surfaced online.

Police said the woman had not initially approached them, but officers acted after receiving information from community members and began searching for her.

Surendranagar SP Premsukh Delu said several police teams were deployed to trace the woman after the videos came to their attention.

The woman was eventually located and brought to the police station, where her statement was recorded, and she was provided protection.

According to the police complaint, the woman had left her husband and gone to live with another man. Her husband and relatives allegedly traced her and brought her to a house, where she was confined using locks and chains.

She subsequently escaped, but the accused allegedly caught her again and tied her to a tree with ropes.

The accused allegedly subjected the woman and the man she had been living with to physical assault and humiliation in the name of carrying out a “shuddhikaran” or purification ritual.

Police said the woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by multiple people, with the ordeal being recorded on a mobile phone. The videos were subsequently circulated on social media.

Police are also investigating the circumstances in which the recordings were made and circulated.

A-Division police Inspector R.M. Sangada said the role of those who recorded and disseminated the videos was also being examined.

The accused have been booked under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including provisions relating to sexual offences, voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful confinement, wrongful concealment or keeping of an abducted person and acts carried out by several people in furtherance of a common intention, besides provisions of the Information Technology Act.

Police have arrested all nine accused, including two women who are alleged to have aided or participated in the offence.

Investigators are also examining the backgrounds and roles of the arrested persons as part of the ongoing probe. Police said further investigation was underway.

New Delhi, Oct 7: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday compared the situation of the country before he became the Prime Minister in 2014, which he described as “immersed in despair and disappointment”, with the current situation of the country under the BJP-led NDA government.

Taking a stinging jibe at the previous governments, PM Modi said that “formidable challenges” stood before the nation; however, now, he said that the “picture has changed completely”. He said the nation has witnessed a transformation from “policy paralysis” to “reform express”.

Addressing the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Sabha in New Delhi, PM Modi said, “In 2014, the country expanded my responsibilities and broadened the scope of my service as the Prime Servant. Even then, formidable challenges stood before the country. Problems seemed to be everywhere, and every citizen was looking for a new path. Regarding India’s economy, the world had started saying, ‘It’s a gone case’. There was no growth to be seen anywhere, inflation was touching the sky, and a country immersed in despair and disappointment once again needed a new sense of confidence.”

He said that when he came to power in 2014, he did what he knew best. “I called upon the collective strength of crores of Indians and once again told them, ‘We will do it!'”

“And today, 12 years later, the picture has changed completely,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that when a crisis situation occurred during the previous government’s tenure, the Indian economy would be “shaken”. “Today, when a crisis occurs, India’s strength and resilience are discussed,” he said.

“Back then, there was talk of policy paralysis, and today there is talk of the reforms express. Earlier, ways were being found to increase imports, and today new export records are being set. Earlier, we imported even the mobile phones we needed, and today Made-in-India mobile phones are making their mark. Earlier, blackouts across India would become global headlines, and today India’s solar power capacity is being discussed,” he said.

Another “excellent example” of this story of change is agriculture, according to PM Modi. Since Independence, he said, if there has been a decade in which agricultural growth has remained consistently the highest, it is the current decade.

“The decade from 2015 to 2025 has broken all records for agricultural growth.”

The Prime Minister further asserted that even among the major countries known for agriculture, growth has not been this rapid. “This happens only when the intentions are clear, and the policies are clear.”

PM Modi said that ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ has been the “foundation of good governance” for him.

“One of the major tragedies of our country has been that society was divided along voting lines for political purposes. Just think, if water does not reach the fields, who suffers? Are only farmers of one caste affected by it? If electricity is not available, does darkness prevail only in the homes of one community? The answer to all these questions is no. If the problem affects everyone, the solution should also be for everyone,” he said.

He said that his government worked towards saturation — meaning that every beneficiary is covered, no eligible person is left out, no rightful beneficiary is left behind, and no one can deprive another person of their rightful benefits.

“This is saturation, and this is the real story of change,” he added.

New Delhi, Oct 7: Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said that Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had been “relentlessly exposing” what he described as a “vote chori conspiracy”, and criticised the registration of an FIR following the Opposition’s protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

In a post on X, Ramesh said, “For almost two years now, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has been relentlessly exposing, through factual evidence, the Vote Chori conspiracy hatched between the PM & the HM on one side and the CEC on the other.”

He alleged that “crores of genuine voters” had lost their constitutional right to vote through what he called the “atrocious process of SIR – Shahenshah Instigated Removal”.

Ramesh further said that when Rahul Gandhi adopted the method of “Satyagraha” to highlight what the Congress described as injustices arising from SIR, the Delhi Police registered an FIR against him and other leaders.

“And when the LOP-LS adopts the method of satyagraha to highlight the injustices of SIR, the Delhi Police registers an FIR against him and other leaders.”

“The diabolical duo is nervous, rattled and desperate. The writing on the wall is clear,” Ramesh said in his post.

His remarks came after Rahul Gandhi and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were booked along with others in connection with their entry into the Akashwani Bhawan premises during Tuesday’s Opposition protest. The police case followed the INDIA bloc’s march from Parliament towards the Election Commission headquarters, during which the protesters were stopped near Akashwani Bhawan.

The Gandhi siblings and other INDIA bloc leaders were subsequently detained by the Delhi Police after they remained at the premises for several hours. They were later released.

The leaders had forcibly entered and gathered on the Akashwani Bhawan campus after being prevented from proceeding towards the Election Commission office. Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Opposition leaders staged a sit-in on the premises, demanding action on the electoral-roll revision exercise and seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

According to reports, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were among those who forcibly entered the premises through the reception gate and later sat under a tree. Police personnel asked the protesters to vacate the area, but the leaders continued their sit-in.