Vendor arrested for rape of minor with wedding lure

HYDERABAD: A 23-year-old vendor was booked on charges of rape by the Punjagutta police for sexually exploiting a minor girl on the false promise of marrying her. Once the girl became pregnant, the accused made others lie to her that he had died due to an illness. The victim, now a mother of a one-year-old girl, recently realised that the man was in fact, alive and approached police.
On Monday, the girl - who was 14-years-old at the time of the alleged rape while the accused was 21 - lodged a complaint with the police. She said her father had died a few years ago and her mother has been chronically ill. She dropped out of the school during the lockdown and as the eldest of three children, she was forced to look after the family by begging at Ameerpet and Punjagutta areas.
In November 2021, the accused who sells imitation jewellery on the streets of Ameerpet met the victim and befriended her. He promised to marry her.
"He behaved nicely and I believed his sweet words. He took me on a bike to a lodge at Kacheguda Crossroads and forcibly had sex with me. Subsequently, he sexually exploited me several times at the same lodge after promising to marry me. Thereafter, I could not find him in Ameerpet," the girl alleged.
The girl then became pregnant and gave birth to a baby in 2022. "The accused made some people who knew the girl lie to her and tell her that he died due to ill health. She believed that and stopped looking for him. Recently, she realised that he was alive and lodged a complaint with us," Punjagutta inspector C Harischandra Reddy said.
Police registered a rape case against the accused under sections 376 AB (2) (n) of the IPC and sections 5 & 6 of the POCSO Act. The accused is reportedly in police custody.