13-year-old girl alleges she was raped by SHO in UP's Lalitpur when she visited police station to file gang-rape case

PTI

Lalitpur (UP), May 4

A 13-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped by four people, was raped again by the Station House Officer (SHO) of a police station where she had gone to file a case, officials said on Wednesday.

The absconding SHO has been arrested from Prayagraj on charges of sexually assaulting the rape survivor, the Prayagraj ADG said. 

The police earlier arrested three of the accused after an FIR was registered against five people, including the SHO, official said.

Senior police officials said the FIR was lodged based on the complaint of the victim.

"The FIR was lodged under various sections of the IPC, including 363 (kidnapping), 376 (rape), 376 B (intercourse by public servant with woman in his custody), 120 B (conspiracy), POCSO Act and SC/ST Act," a police statement said.

According to the victim's mother, her daughter was taken to Bhopal on April 22 by four men and was raped there for three days. The accused left the girl at the Pali police station, where she was allegedly raped by the SHO.

The girl reached a childline NGO later and narrated the whole incident during counselling.

The NGO approached the Superintendent of Police, after whose intervention, an FIR was registered on Tuesday.

"The police have arrested three accused, while attempts are on to nab others," Superintendent of Police Nikhil Pathak said.

The Samajwadi Party attacked the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government over the incident, asking where should "daughters go" and "whom to trust" in this government.

"The biggest question in the BJP government is whom to trust and whom to not. A minor, who reached the police station to file rape complaint was raped by the SHO himself.

"Now the CM should tell, where should victim daughters go? Security of the victim should be ensured and strict action should be taken against those found guilty," the party said in a tweet in Hindi.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is expected to go to Lalitpur to meet the rape survivor's family.

Attacking the state government in series of tweets, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, "The incident of gangrape with a 13-year-old girl in Lalitpur and then rape by a police officer after taking a complaint shows how the real reforms of law and order are being suppressed in the noise of "bulldozer". If police station are not safe for women, where will they go with their complaints."

"Has the UP government seriously thought about increasing the deployment of women in police stations, making them safer for women? The Congress party had in its women's manifesto had made many important points for women security..Today its Lalitpur...", she said.

To prevent such incidents, serious steps should be taken for women's safety and women friendly law system, she added.

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