One of the accused, a taxi driver, was arrested on Tuesday.A 15-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped by two men at a lodge in south Mumbai on October 22. One of the accused, a taxi driver, was arrested on Tuesday.
The police said the girl was allegedly sexually assaulted in July as well, after which she was lodged in an ashram. On October 17, she was admitted to Nair hospital for treatment.
“She ran away from the hospital on October 21. The next day, taxi driver Abhimanyu Saroj and his friend spotted her at a station, took her to a lodge and raped her. Saroj was arrested on Tuesday,” said an officer.
The police said the girl was lodged at a children home in July, following which the child welfare committee issued an order to shift her to an ashram. “The girl was sexually assaulted in July and a police case was registered. We are trying to gather information why she didn’t go to stay with her parents again and was sent to the children’s home and then to the ashram,” said the officer.
A Senior Inspector said, “The officials at the ashram believed that she needed to be treated for suicidal thoughts and thus admitted her to Nair hospital on October 17. From there, she managed flee on October 21.”
The police said the girl went to the station, where the two men spotted her. “The men, including a taxi driver, started talking to her… The 15-year-old allegedly told them that she wanted a job… On the pretext of offering her a job, they took her to a room nearby and raped her,” said the officer cited above, adding that the men left the girl near a station gate and escaped.
When she returned, the ashram officials took her to the police station and a case on charges of kidnapping, gangrape and common intention under Indian Penal Code and POCSO Act 2012 was registered.