48-year-old cleric arrested for raping minor girl in Delhi mosque

NEW DELHI: A 48-year-old cleric was arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl inside a mosque in northeast Delhi when she went to fetch water, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on Sunday evening when the 12-year-old girl had gone to the mosque to fetch water, they said.

After the girl returned home, she narrated her ordeal to her parents who then filed a complaint with the police on Sunday night.

A case was subsequently registered and the girl was counselled and taken for a medical examination, police said.

In the complaint, the girl's parents alleged that their daughter had gone to the mosque to fetch water when she was raped by the cleric, the police said.

The accused was booked under section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, a senior police officer said.

He was arrested Monday morning from Loni in Ghaziabad where he lived, a senior police officer said.

The cleric, who hails from Bharatpur in Rajasthan, was produced in a city court which sent him to 14-day judicial custody, he said.

Police personnel were deployed outside the mosque as agitated locals gathered there to protest, police said.