Express News Service
LUCKNOW: In a shocking incident, a Station House Officer (SHO) raped a minor Dalit girl who turned up at the police station to lodge a complaint against four persons who gang-raped her. The protector who turned the perpetrator of the horrific crime is absconding.
The incident has come to light in the Lalitpur district of the Bundelkhand region of UP.
While the 13-year-old rape survivor has been sent to a destitute home for children, the accused SHO, who stands suspended, is on the run. However, three of the five accused, including a woman, have been arrested so far.
As per Lalitpur SP Nikhil Pathak, four persons allegedly kidnapped the girl from the area under the Pali police station and took her to Bhopal where they gang-raped her on April 22. She then ran away from their captivity and reached the police station to register her complaint. Initially, the SHO Tilakdhari Saroj sent her to a destitute home along with her aunt but called her after two days on the pretext of recording her statement and raped her in a room of the police station.
The survivor narrated the entire incident to the Lalitpur SP who then suspended the SHO. He has ordered a probe into the incident. After the initial investigation, five accused including the SHO were booked under Sections 363 (Punishment for kidnapping), 376 (Where a woman is raped by one or more in a group), 376B (Whoever, being a public servant, takes advantage of his official position and induces or seduces a woman in his custody to have sexual intercourse with him), 120B (Criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and 3(2)5 of the SC/ST Act.
“Taking cognizance of the issue, Additional Director General Kanpur Zone has ordered to attach the entire staff, comprising 29 police personnel, of Pali police station to the police lines,” said ADG ((Law and Order) Prashant Kumar adding that the strictest action would be taken in the case.
The ADG (Law and Order) said that the DIG Jhansi range has been asked by the UP DGP to conduct an inquiry into the matter and submit a report highlighting the conditions under which the SHO committed the crime. Moreover, the DIG would also probe the role /fault of the supervisory officer, others along with the SP, said Prashant Kumar.
The contingent of 29 cops who were deputed at Pali police station when the minor was allegedly raped by the SHO comprised six Sub-Inspectors, six head constables, 10 constables, five women constables, a driver and a follower.
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Lalitpur SP Nikhil Pathak said that the three persons arrested in connection with the case were identified as Rajbhan, Mahendra and one Gulab Bai, who happens to be the victim’s aunt. Six police teams have been deployed to nab others.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav visited Lalitpur on Wednesday as the gang-rape incident is snowballing into a big political slugfest with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi slamming the government over the alleged rape and questioning the “law and order reforms of the state”.