Inspector held for alleged rape of dowry complainant

Kanpur:An inspector has been accused of raping a woman complainant for several times in a hotel on the pretext of helping her. The woman, a native of Etawah, is a victim of dowry harassment, and came in contact with an inspector during his posting at Civil Lines police station in January 2021 in Etawah. The matter came to light when the married woman became pregnant. On the complaint of the victim, the police arrested the accused inspector from Kulpahar Kotwali in Mahoba district. She was a minor when she was raped. Therefore, the police have also imposed a section of the POCSO Act on the inspector along with rape.
A newly married woman from a village under Bhareh police station area of Etawah district had met SSP (Etawah) Jai Prakash Singh that some time ago she had made a complaint of dowry harassment against her husband at the local police station. The police intervened and both sides had compromised.
The police station in-charge Mahendra Pratap Singh, who was posted at Bhareh police station, was later transferred to Chakarnagar police station. The in-laws of the victim also hail from Chakarnagar.
According to the victim, on reaching there, the accused station in-charge forcibly registered a case of dowry harassment against her in-laws and started pressurizing her to come to the police station. When she reached the police station on Jan 28 2021, she was asked to go to the Etawah court to give a statement. On that day, the inspector took her to a hotel located on Station Road, saying that there will be no statement recorded on that day and later he raped her and also made her obscene photos and videos from his mobile phone. The inspector also threatened to send her husband to jail if she complained about the matter.
On February 7, inspector Mahendra Pratap Singh again raped her after calling her to a hotel in Etawah. The victim, peeved over the sexual exploitation by the inspector had made a complaint to the then SSP on October 4. The investigation of the case was handed over to CO Rakesh Vashisht. When no action was taken, the victim had lodged a complaint with SSP Jai Prakash Singh on Thursday. SSP said that in the case, the accused has been arrested from Mahoba and sent to jail.