Lucknow: A 13-year-old rape survivor was allegedly raped again by the in-charge of a police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur, when she had gone there to register a complaint. The teen alleged she was raped by four men, following which she went to the police station to file a complaint along with a relative.
The accused official, Station House Officer Tilakdhari Saroj, has been arrested. All cops posted at the police station, where the alleged incident took place, have been removed from duty. A DIG-level officer will investigate the case and file a report within 24 hours.
The FIR filed by the girl’s father on Tuesday stated that she was lured by four men and taken to Bhopal on April 22, where they raped her for four days. The accused then brought her back to her village and allegedly dropped her at the concerned police station before escaping.
The accused police station in-charge then handed over the girl to her aunt, the FIR stated, adding that she was called to the police station the next day for recording her statement. Next day, the accused official took the girl inside a room in the police station in the presence of her aunt and raped her, it added.
The girl’s aunt has also been named as an accused in the FIR.
Lalitpur police said they have charged the official for rape and under the stringent POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act.
“The SHO is suspended and he is a named criminal so we have formed teams to arrest him. An NGO brought the girl to my office. She had given them the details. After I was informed of it, I ensured that a case was filed,” said Lalitpur police chief Nikhil Pathak in a statement.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slammed the state government and said the alleged rape incident shows how genuine law and order reforms are being suppressed in the noise of “bulldozers”.
“The gang-rape of a 13-year-old girl in Lalitpur and then her rape by the police in-charge when she went to file a complaint shows how genuine law and order reforms are being suppressed in the noise of “bulldozers”. If police stations are not safe for women, then where will they go to take complaints?” she said in a tweet.
