Man who raped minor, married her before fleeing, arrested at Lucknow airport
The three cops have also been made co-accused in the case for allegedly forcing the minor to marry the 34-year-old man.
A 34-year-old man, who in 2013 allegedly raped a 13-year-old and later married her when her family wanted to file a police complaint, only to flee the country after the marriage, was arrested at the Lucknow international airport. The accused was caught by the Lucknow police based on a look out circular(LOC) that had been issued against him. The accused had taken a flight from Saudi Arabia. The Lucknow police intimated the Amboli police of his arrest on Friday. A team from Amboli police is on its way to Lucknow to take his custody.
A city court had recently passed an order making three police officers co-accused in the case for allegedly forcing the minor to marry the 34-year-old man. The three cops — police inspector (PI) Jaywant Shinde , then an assistant police inspector with the Amboli police station; PI Vivek Shende; and constable Janita Bhosale — have been summoned to be present at the court on June 10. They had allegedly thwarted the attempts of the girl and her father to register a rape case.
A police complaint in the matter was eventually filed in 2014, when a social worker saw the minor with a child and enquired with her about it. The family alleged the case was registered only after the intervention of the Child Welfare Committee.
According to the prosecution, the 34-year-old man was a neighbour of the minor girl and had, along with another accused, raped her on multiple occasions between July 2012 and January 2013. The other accused has already been arrested in the case.
The prosecution said the accused had raped the girl for the first time in July 2012 after spiking her drink, which made her lose consciousness. The girl realised she had been raped when she regained consciousness. The accused threatened the girl they would kill her family if she revealed the crime to anyone, the prosecution said.
The incident came to light when the girl was found to be pregnant. When the family approached the police, the three police officers named as co-accused allegedly ‘settled’ the case by forcing the girl to marry the accused. However, police officers said the accused had fled to Saudi Arabia after the marriage and had severed all communication with the girl and her family.
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