RLY EMPLOYEE HELD FOR RAPING, LEAVING MINOR PREGNANT

JAMSHEDPUR: A 55-year-old railway employee was sent to jail here in Jamshedpur on Wednesday after he was arrested on charges of repeatedly raping his minor domestic help, leading to the victim getting pregnant for two months and ten days. Railway authorities also initiated suspension and charge-sheet proceedings against the accused Manik Chandra Das here, officials said on Wednesday.

“We arrested the accused railway employee under POCSO Act late last night after victim’s pregnancy was confirmed in medical examination last evening. The tests done under the supervision of district child welfare committee (CWC) and railway childline found the victim pregnant for two months and ten days. We had sent him to jail this afternoon after producing in a local court,” said Animesh Gupta, Parsudih police station (PS) officer-incharge (OC)

South Eastern Railway’s Chakradharpur Division senior divisional commissioner (DCM) Manish Kumar Pathak said they have put the accused under suspension as soon as he was arrested and sent to jail. “We had initiated the proceedings under SF-5 (standard form) under which Das would be suspended till trial and conviction. If he is convicted, he would be automatically dismissed from the service,” said Pathak.

The OC said the 14-year-old girl was first brought to police station by a family living in nearby on June 30 this year when they found her crying on the road alone. “We had handed her over to CWC and they filed the FIR against the accused after sexual abuse and pregnancy were confirmed in medical tests last evening. Das lives with his 16-year-old son as his wife had deserted him long ago,” said Gupta.