More rapes amid outrage

500% rise in sexual crimes against minors over the past 10 years, says Child Rights and You

lucknow — Days after an eightyear-old was raped and murdered in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah, a six-year-old was raped in the state’s Siddharthnagar district, police said on Thursday.

The incident came to light a day after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath proposed death penalty for rapists of minors. And in another shocking case, a man has been booked for raping his 35-yearold daughter along with two of his friends in Sitapur city in Uttar Pradesh, police said on Thursday.

Based on the minor victim’s statement, the rapist has been arrested, an officer said.

According to police, the incident took place at Semra Bajha village of the eastern Uttar Pradesh district late on Wednesday when the girl, watching a wedding procession pass by her home, was lured by a boy to a deserted area and raped.

When the girl did not return home till late, worried family members raised an alarm and searched the neighbourhood. She was found lying in a bush outside the village in the early hours of Thursday.

The girl was taken to a medical facility where her condition is said to be serious but stable. The incident came after a marathon meeting of senior police and Home Department officials, chaired by Adityanath, who pitched for rape with minors will be punishable by death.

In Sitapur city, the woman was raped by her father and his two friends in Kamlapur area on April 15, additional SP (South) Martand Prakash Singh said. She filed the police complaint the next day. While one of the accused has been arrested, the victim’s father and another accused are absconding, he said. “The woman has a son. She married almost 20 years ago. However, she separated from her husband and was living with her father,” the additional SP said.

On April 15, the man took his daughter to a fair, an annual feature in Kamlapur, around 70km from state capital Lucknow. There, he called up his friend Maan Singh and asked him to join them, police said.

According to police, Maan Singh has partnered the woman’s father in a number of crimes.

The two men then convinced the woman to ride with them on a motorcycle to the residence of their friend Meraj. There, the men locked her up in a room for nearly 18 hours and took turns to rape her, police said. The victim somehow managed to escape and reached home. She narrated her ordeal to her mother and the complaint was registered, police said.

In November last year, the victim’s father was accused by the village panchayat of having illicit relationship with his daughter. He was arrested but released on bail in February.

In another shocker, a minor tribal girl was raped in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, police said on Thursday. The girl was raped by an auto driver when she was returning home with her family after attending a religious event late on Wednesday, said police.

Since the accused was known to the family, after dropping them at their house, he took the girl to a secluded spot on the pretext of parking his vehicle and raped her.— IANS, PTI