15-YEAR-OLD GIRL RAPED, FORCED TO CHANGE RELIGION; 3 ARRESTED

BAGHPAT: A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a man, his brothers and friends here in Uttar Pradesh and was forced to change her religion, police said on Monday. The man, Shahzad, and his parents have been arrested, they said.

The girl belonged to the scheduled caste community and she has alleged that Shahzad (26) promised to marry her, police said, adding that on this pretext, he along with others forcibly changed her religion a year ago.

Kotwali police station in-charge N S Sirohi said a case has been registered against seven persons and the main accused Shahzad, his mother and father were arrested on Sunday morning. A search is on for the others.

Shahzad was already married and it has been alleged that he raped the girl several times, police said, adding that the girl also said she was pregnant, but forced to go in for an abortion by his family members.

According to police, his friends had also raped her, they said, quoting the complaint lodged by the girl’s family. According to the complaint, she was called by Shahzad to his house on July 6 and was taken captive, police said. On July 8, she was raped by his brothers Bilal and Farman, they said quoting the complaint.

The girl’s family claimed that she reached home on July 10 in a very scared state. When her health deteriorated and they insisted on taking her to a doctor on July 17, she informed them about the incident, police said.

ACCORDING TO POLICE, HIS FRIENDS HAD ALSO RAPED HER, THEY SAID, QUOTING THE COMPLAINT LODGED BY THE GIRL’S FAMILY.