Karnataka man booked for allegedly raping 19-year-old Gorakhpur woman

The woman has denied her father’s charges that she was abducted and forced to convert so charges under the anti-conversion law will be removed and rape charges to be included

A 22-year-old Karnataka man has been booked for allegedly raping a 19-year-old Gorakhpur woman after she recorded her statement in this regard before a magistrate on Tuesday.

Representational Image. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“The woman, in her statement, has claimed that she was raped on the pretext of a job,” said deputy inspector general Joginder Kumar said. Kumar added that she denied her father’s charges that the man forced her to convert. “Based on her statement, we have initiated the process to remove the charges under the anti-conversion law from the FIR [first information report against the man] and include the rape charge. The accused was also arrested and sent to jail.”

The woman earlier told Gorakhpur police that she had gone to Karnataka on her own for a job days after her father lodged the FIR against the man for allegedly kidnapping his daughter and forcing her to change her religion.

The man and the woman were brought to Gorakhpur from Bijapur in Karnataka on Monday. “The woman told us that she went to Karnataka to meet the man on her own looking for a job. She denied allegations of kidnapping or forceful conversion,” said additional superintendent of police Manoj Kumar Awasthi.

Kumar said the father lodged a missing report on January 5. “Fresh charges under the anti-conversion ordinance were added after the woman’s call records showed she was in touch with the Karnataka man for over a year. The girl’s father alleged that the man concealed his religious identity to kidnap his daughter.”