Pratapgarh: Police tracing rape victim 18 years after incident

The rape victim hailing from Kunda area of Pratapgarh had made a complaint to police on May 13, 2002 and went missing thereafter

After receiving instructions from court, the Pratapgarh police are searching for a woman who was allegedly raped 18 years back. The woman went missing after lodging the FIR and remained untraceable.

A local court has asked Pratapgarh police to produce the alleged rape victim before the court on the next hearing on November 10. (Pic for representation)

According to reports, a woman of Kunda area made a complaint to police on May 13 ,2002 in which she alleged that she was abducted and raped by Hariom Shankar Srivastava, Nanhe Singh and Subhash Kesarwani. The accused also assaulted her and issued life threat. On her complaint, Kunda police registered an FIR against the accused on August 20, 2002. The then investigating officer submitted final report in the FIR, claiming that all accused were found innocent.

However, the complainant demanded reinvestigation of the case following which police filed charge sheet against the accused at the court. Since then the case remained pending as the complainant failed to appear before the court on hearings.

Now, the court has asked police to produce the woman before the court on the next hearing on November 10. Police have now launched a manhunt for her but failed to trace her yet. SHO Kunda Rakesh Bharti said all efforts were being made to trace the woman. Her kin claimed they did not know of her whereabouts, he added.