Madhya Pradesh girl raped again after being handed over to relatives of accused

The girl reported her ordeal to the One Stop Centre (OSC), responsible for maintaining the record of complaints about violence against women, on April 29 but the matter was suppressed

A man out on bail after allegedly abducting and raping a 15-year-old girl sexually assaulted her again after the Child Welfare Committee in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur handed her over to her cousin and sister-in-law of the accused.

Ten people have been booked for handing over the girl to her cousin and the sister-in-law of the accused. (IANS)

The girl reported her ordeal to the One Stop Centre (OSC), responsible for maintaining the record of complaints about violence against women, on April 29 but the matter was allegedly suppressed. The ordeal came to light when the girl reported it to the police on Wednesday.

Chhatarpur police superintendent Agam Jain said the 15-year-old girl was rescued from Haryana’s Gurugram a month after she went missing on January 16. “The 20-year-old man was arrested for abduction and rape. Later, the committee handed over the girl to the sister-in-law of the accused and her cousin. ...the accused got bail. After coming out, he raped her again.”

Ten people, including the committee members, women and child development department officers, and the OSC superintendent, were booked for handing over the girl to her cousin and the sister-in-law of the accused.

Chhatarpur sub-divisional police officer Naveen Dubey said the girl suffered the sexual assault again due to this wrong decision. “The investigation also revealed that the district programme officer and the employees of the One Stop Centre tried to suppress the matter. The case has been registered against those who made the wrong decision and suppressed the matter,” said Dubey.

Police arrested Ashish Boss, a committee member, while nine others are absconding. Bhanu Jadia, the committee president, and members Anjali Bhadoria, Boss, Sudeep Srivastava, and Pramod Kumar Singh have been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act’s Section 17 (abetment).

OSC administrator Kavita Pandey, counsellors Priyanka Singh, Shivani Sharma, and district women and child development officer Awadhesh Singh have been slapped with the POCSO Act’s Section 21 (failure to report or record an offence). Awadhesh Singh has also been booked under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Section 239 (intentional omission).