15-year-old tells dad to give away child born out of rape

Papa, isey kisi ko de do, ye mere bas ki nahin hai (Father, please give her away, I cannot handle all of this)

FATHER OF THE 15-YEAR-OLD, quoting her daughter’s plea to him

DEHRADUN: A 15-year-old Uttarakhand girl allegedly raped for several months by a school teacher has urged her father to give away her baby, who was born last week.

The alleged rape victim gave birth to a girl last week, a little over two months after the pregnancy was discovered by her family who took her to hospital for stomach pains.

“Papa isey kisi ko de do, ye mere bas ki nahin hai (Father, please give her away, I can’t handle all this),” the girl’s father quoted her as saying.

The girl belongs to a village in Tehri district.

“She’s been quite distressed,” the father, who is a farmer, said. The family has for the time being summoned a cousin of the victim to help take care of the child.

The childbirth has hit the girl’s board exam preparations.

Parmesh Kumar, a 57-yearold history teacher at the government school she went to, has been accused of sexually assaulting her several times.

The pregnancy was discovered in mid-september and doc- tors then said an abortion was not possible since the pregnancy was in its seventh month.

The police, meanwhile, have said that they will go ahead with a DNA test to establish the paternity of the child. “We will get the test done soon so that we can build a strong case against the accused,” Manoj Negi, SHO, Kempty police station, told HT.

The child may be given up for adoption through the welfare committee if the family wishes to, he added.

The accused is currently in prison, slapped with charges under sections 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 328 (causing hurt by means of poison) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.