Vadodara police arrested a Woman held for ‘kidnapping 17-yr-old partner’, man held for raping minor

Vadodara police on Wednesday arrested a 25-year-old woman for allegedly kidnapping a 17-year-old girl after the two are said to have “eloped” in October last year and were “settled” in Ahmedabad. Panigate police station in Vadodara has also booked a man for allegedly raping the minor at a bricks factory where the two women were working as labourers to earn a livelihood.

According to the police, the woman and the girl were in a same-sex relationship for a few months before they decided to “elope”. They ran away from their homes in October last year and the parents of the minor approached the police to file an FIR of kidnapping against her 25-year-old partner. The women, meanwhile, settled in Ahmedabad and began living together, police said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, E Division, SG Patil said, “The two women took up employment at a cement bricks manufacturing factory in Ahmedabad and they were in a relationship.

Meanwhile, another man working at the factory also raped the minor, she told the police. We also arrested the man following their Covid19 test on Wednesday and produced them in court. The court has given them in police remand until Friday.”

The minor has been sent to a Women’s reform home in the city while the two accused have been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and relevant sections of the IPC.

The 25-year-old woman has been booked for 363 for kidnapping, 366 (A) kidnapping a minor to seduce for illicit intercourse and the accused man has been booked for rape under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code.