Maharashtra: 55-year-old man held for raping 13-year-old girl in Palghar

A complaint in was lodged by the elder sister of the victim, an official from the Kasa police station said. Representational Pic/File/iStock

A 55-year-old man was held for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl in a forest area in Maharashtra's Palghar district, police said on Tuesday, reported the PTI.

The incident occurred in the wee hours of Monday and the accused, a resident of a village in Vikramgad taluka of the district, was arrested around early on Tuesday, it said, the news agency reported.

A complaint in was lodged by the elder sister of the victim, an official from the Kasa police station said.

Raped on pretext of obtaining a medicinal plant

The complainant said she and her sister had approached the accused on April 30 to seek herbal treatment for her irregular menstrual cycle. The accused is known among villagers to provide herbal treatment to people, he said, according to the PTI.

"On May 3, the accused visited the residence of the victim. Under the pretext of procuring a medicinal plant for her treatment, he took the complainant, her 19-year-old sister and some of their relatives in a car," the official said.

The group departed from Dahanu around 11.30 pm. After driving a short distance, the accused parked the vehicle by the roadside near Charipawan around 1 am. He lured the teenage victim to accompany him into the nearby bushes under the guise of gathering the medicinal plant and instructed other passengers to remain inside the vehicle, said the official, according to the PTI.

"Once in the secluded forest area, the accused raped the minor victim and subsequently threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed the incident to anyone," the official said citing the complaint, as per the PTI.

Known to accused

The victim's sister and the daughter of the accused were known to each other, which had established a sense of trust, he added.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Sameer Maher said a case has been registered against the accused under sections 64 (1) (rape), 65(1) (rape of a girl under 12 years of age), and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) along with sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The accused was arrested around 4 am on Tuesday, he said, the news agency reported.

(with PTI inputs)