Uttar Pradesh: Two more rape cases reported

Cases of rape continue to be reported in Uttar Pradesh despite the growing public outrage against such heinous acts.  An 18-year-old girl was allegedly abducted and gang-raped in a moving SUV in Auraiyya district of Uttar Pradesh while a 14-year-old girl was raped by a youth in Bijnore district.

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The first incident took place on November 29, but the FIR was registered on December 7 after the 18-year old girl's father complained of police inaction to the senior officials.

According to the complaint, the girl was traveling to coaching classes when she was abducted by four men in an SUV who took turns to rape the victim for two hours in the moving car and later dumped her after. The accused, allegedly also threatened to kill her if she reported the incident to the police due to which the father of the girl did not report to the police immediately fearing the safety of his daughter. However, later he went to lodge a complaint upon the insistence of family members.  

The police at first refused to file the complaint and shooed him away. The next day, they went to the Station House Officer (SHO) but she too did not take cognizance of the case. It was only after the father met the Superintendent of Police (SP) that the case was registered on 7 December.

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Possibility of sexual assault ruled out

The victim named four people including an army man and his brother. The FIR has been filed under charges of gang-rape, criminal intimidation, punishment for wrongful confinement, and robbery against the army man, his brother and two others. The SP sent the girl for medical examination where the possibility of sexual assault was ruled out but injury marks on the body have been found. 

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The incidents of rape and crime against women are on the rise despite the national outrage against such crimes following the horrific Hyderabad rape and murder incident. Another rape case has come to light in which a 14-year-old girl from Bijnore district was allegedly abducted and raped by a neighborhood youth on December 7. An FIR has been lodged under IPC section 376 (rape) and POCSO Act against the accused who is from the same area as the victim. The victim’s uncle is said to have helped the accused in abducting the victim. The uncle offered a lift to the girl and then later asked the accused to drop the girl to the school on his bike. The girl has been sent for medical examination; however, both the accused are yet to be arrested.

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