17-yr-old gangraped over ₹1,500 loan
POLICE REGISTERED A CASE UNDER THE IPC SECTION GANGRAPE AND RELEVANT SECTIONS OF THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL OFFENCES (POCSO) ACT
GHAZIABAD: A day after being arrested, two men — accused of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Muradnagar — were on Friday produced before a Ghaziabad court, which remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.
Hours before the court proceedings, the two men, identified by the state police as Zahid and Mohan Pal, told media persons at a press conference in the presence of police that they committed the crime because the girl was not returning ₹1,500, which she had borrowed from them.
Besides the two, the police had on Thursday also apprehended a minor in the case.
According to the police, the incident took place on Wednesday when the girl was returning home on her bicycle from a photocopy shop in the neighbourhood.
The three accused, including a minor boy, met her midway, took her to a desolate spot and assaulted her sexually.
On the basis of a complaint filed by the girl’s family, police registered a case under the IPC section gangrape and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act at Muradnagar police station.
At the press conference at police lines, Zahid, the prime accused, said, “We asked her for the money several times. She repeatedly sought more time but we declined. We pulled her to the fields and took turns to rape her. Meanwhile, the minor boy kept sitting on the roadside with her bicycle, keeping watch.”
He said, “She had taken the money for a festival. I borrowed ₹500 from Mohan Pal and further arranged ₹1,000 from others. The minor who was with us during the incident was not involved in the gang-rape. However, he kept a watch.” They said the girl resisted but they threatened her not to disclose the incident to anyone.
Stating that the minor dropped out of school after failing Class 11 last year, senior superintendent of police (Ghaziabad) Vaibhav Krishna said, “We have arrested the two adults and apprehended the minor. While the two men took turns to rape the girl, the minor kept a watch on the road. They gangraped her over a very small amount of money.”