Ghaziabad: Stepfather, mother held for rape of girl,11, boy 13

A probe revealed that over the past several months, the man allegedly raped the minor girl five to six times and her 13-year-old brother three to four times

The Ghaziabad police on Thursday arrested a 38-year-old man on charges of raping his 11-year-old stepdaughter and 13-year-old stepson repeatedly over the past one year and the children’s 36-year-old mother for allegedly helping him carry out the assaults, senior officers aware of the matter said.

The Ghaziabad police managed to get some information from the girl and they roped in several local informers to find the locality where the girl lived. (Representational image)

A case in this connection was initially registered at Sunlight Colony police station by the Delhi Police in January and later it was transferred to the Loni Border police station in Ghaziabad on April 9, as the assault on the children took place at their Loni residence.

The Ghaziabad police took up investigation and started gathering details from the girl who was till recently with the child welfare committee (CWC) in Delhi, and has now been shifted to the CWC in Ghaziabad.

According to police, the father of the three children -- the two victims have a six-year-old brother-- died during the Covid pandemic and their mother went to stay with her in-laws in Firozabad.

“Their mother returned about a year ago and started living locality under the jurisdiction of Loni Border police station. She was friendly with the suspect man, who used to be her neighbour. When she returned from her in-laws’, the man, who was already married with three children, married the woman and made her stay in a rented house nearby and he often visited her,” said Bhaskar Verma, assistant commissioner of police (Ankur Vihar).

The police investigation revealed that over the past several months, the man allegedly raped the minor girl at least five to six times and her 13-year-old brother at least three to four times.

“Their mother knew about the repeated sexual assaults on the two children and she often punished them and threatened them against revealing the assault to anyone. Unable to bear the repeated rapes, the boy fled the house in November and took shelter with a local tea vendor. The girl fled her home in January and was rescued by the Delhi Police. They registered an FIR there and since the girl was traumatised, she could not give police much information; all she told them was that she lived in Loni Border area. The Delhi Police then transferred the case to Ghaziabad,” Verma said.

The Ghaziabad police managed to get some information from the girl and they roped in several local informers to find the locality where the girl lived.

“Our teams finally traced her mother. During interrogation, she told us that her husband forced her into prostitution to earn money for himself. Based on her statement, we arrested the man and he admitted to having raped the two children repeatedly,” Verma said.

Police said during questioning, the mother told them about the boy’s whereabouts and he was brought in from the tea vendor’s house. The childrenwill be taken to give their statement before a magistrate on Friday, police said.

“The children have injury marks on their nails and other parts of their body. The sexual assault took place at the house of their mother. The suspect first wife was unaware of his second marriage,” said Vivek Chandra Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (rural).

Police said have levied charges under Indian Penal Code sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural offences), 323 (causing hurt) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act against the couple at Loni Border police station.