The Union Cabinet had on Saturday approved the promulgation of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018, which allowed courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping children below 12 years of age. (Representational)
At a time of outrage over the Kathua rape and murder case, which spurred the Union Cabinet to approve promulgation of an ordinance allowing courts to give death penalty to convicted child rapists, three among four complaints of sexual assault registered across the state of Uttar Pradesh Saturday involved minor victims.
RAMPUR
In Rampur, a 7-year-old girl was raped, allegedly by a youth. The 19-year-old accused had lured the girl, who was playing outside her house, to a nearby farm and sexually assaulted her, according to the police.
While the youth fled from the spot, leaving the minor at the farm, he was later arrested after the girl informed her parents, who called the police. “The girl was playing outside her house at around 10 am. Her parents, who are farmers, and elder siblings, were at the farm when the youth, Sirasat (19), lured her to a nearby farm and sexually assaulted her. He fled and the girl came back home and informed her parents. The police were called and within two hours, the accused was arrested with the help of some villagers,” said Rampur SP Vipin Tada. A medical examination of the girl had confirmed rape and indicated injuries to her private parts, he added.
SHO of Swar police station, Rajesh Kumar Tiwari, said, “An FIR was registered against the accused under the section 376 (rape) of IPC and a related section of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
MUZAFFARNAGAR
A 13-year-old girl was allegedly drugged and subjected to repeated sexual assault by a 32-year-old doctor in Muzaffarnagar for three days. She went missing on Tuesday, but managed to escaped from the place were she was held captive two days later. An FIR was registered against the doctor, Sonu Verma, Saturday, police said.
“According to the complaint submitted by the victim’s father, the girl had gone to Verma’s clinic on Tuesday to get some medicines for headache. However, he gave her sedatives and took her on a motorcycle to the office of a local newspaper he runs, around 7 km away. There, he held her captive and sexually assaulted her. On Thursday the girl managed to escape and came back to her house. An FIR was registered and we arrested the accused from Jansath police station area,” said SP (rural) Ajay Kumar Sehdev.
Jansath Circle Officer (CO) S K S Pratap said that while the report of the girl’s medical examination is awaited, her statement under 164 CrPC would be recorded on Monday. He added that the district chief medical officer (CMO) has sealed the accused’s clinic upon finding some banned medicines there. Jansath police station SHO Anil Kumar Singh, said “We have have registered an FIR against the accused under charges of rape, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and sections of the POCSO Act. The accused has been sent to jail.”
Asked why no search party was deployed to find the girl when she went missing, Singh said her father initially tried to search for the girl on his own, and had approached the police only after she returned.
KANNAUJ
Meanwhile, a 30-year-old man allegedly sexually assaulted his 11-year-old niece when she was alone at her house in Kannauj on Thursday. An FIR was lodged registered against him on Saturday under charge of rape and the POCSO Act, on the basis of a complaint filed by his brother (the girl’s father).
“According to the FIR complaint lodged by the father of the victim, his brother sexually assaulted his daughter when she was alone at her house. The father added that when he returned, he saw her daughter in a bad condition. Later when told him about the incident he came to register an FIR,” Chhibramau CO Srikant Prajapati said, adding that father are four brothers who all live in the same house in different rooms.
The CO further said they had detained the accused, adding that they would arrest him if the the medical examination report confirms rape. While the initial medical report has not confirmed rape, the girl has been sent to the district hospital for further tests.
MORADABAD
In Moradabad, an FIR was registered against a youth for sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman in January. The woman, who is pregnant, had gotten married to another man earlier this month, but the latter allegedly decided to divorce her on coming to know about the pregnancy.
The Union Cabinet had on Saturday approved the promulgation of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018, which allowed courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping children below 12 years of age. According to data of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2016, incidents of rape of children increased by over 82 per cent compared to 2015.