Man held for raping minor stepdaughter in Thural

A 54-year old man has been arrested for allegedly raping his minor stepdaughter in Thural tehsil of Kangra district, police said here today.

It is learnt that the accused had got married for the third time a few years back. His previous two wives had left him. He had married a mother of two daughters.

While one girl was married a couple of years back, the second one, a minor, was living with her mother and stepfather. The stepfather had been sexually assaulting the minor girl for the past many months. Two days back, the girl narrated the tragic tale of sexual assault to her mother. She went to the nearby Bhawarna police station and recorded her statement levelling allegations against her husband of raping the minor girl.

The police took the girl to a government hospital for a medical examination, which confirmed the sexual assault.

Subsequently, the police registered an FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and relevant sections of the Bhartiya Nayaya Samhita. Coming to know about the FIR, the accused fled away but was arrested tracked to a nearby forest area and was arrested by. Further investigations were in progress.