Police registered a case under relevant sections of the IPC, including gangrape, and Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
A Kanpur Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Monday sent four boys – aged six, seven, 10 and 12 – to a juvenile correctional home for allegedly raping a four-year-old girl.
According to police, the four would undergo a few days of counselling before being produced before the JJB again.
The boys were detained following an FIR on Sunday.
“A man came to us with a complaint against four boys of his neighbourhood. He alleged that on Saturday evening they lured his daughter, who was playing outside her home, to a nearby abandoned place and sexually assaulted her,” said Rakesh Kumar Maurya, Maharajpur police station officer (SO). Police registered a case under relevant sections of the IPC, including gangrape, and Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The boys were later detained. “The girl’s medical examination, however, did not confirm sexual assault,” SO Maurya said.
Speaking to The Indian Express on Monday, the father of the youngest boy said the accusation was false and inspired by personal animosity. “The children are innocent. I do not understand how they can sexually assault someone. On Saturday they were all just playing. Next day, I was told that there is an FIR against them for gangrape. The police came to the village on Sunday and first took the two older boys. They also took my 15-year-old son, who was not named in the case, to the police station. The cops asked me to first bring my youngest son named in the case and only then my elder son would be allowed to go,” said the man. “Then I took my younger son to the police station on Sunday afternoon. The four boys spent a whole night at the police station. My son kept crying. The boys were begging us to not let the police take them, but we did not know what to do. We were helpless.”
Inspector General (IG), Kanpur (Range), Alok Singh, however, said police had followed legal procedure and denied the youngest son’s father’s allegations.
“The FIR was registered as per the complaint lodged by the victim’s father,” he said. “We even talked to all the kids and based on their statements, it technically fell under the category of rape. However, this is a very sensitive matter and that is why we were very cautious and proceeded to keep in mind their mental health. We talked to many responsible officers and only after that we went further.”