30 April,2024 10:58 AM IST | Palghar | mid-day online correspondent
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A minor girl from Maharashtra's Palghar district was allegedly raped by two persons on different occasions under the pretext of marriage, said police on Tuesday. Police officials told news agency PTI that the 17-year-old was impregnated after the sexual assault and had birthed two children.
The PTI report stated that based on the girls' complaint on Sunday, they registered a case against 16 persons which included the two alleged assaulters, the 17-year-old girl's parents and two doctors under various charges.
Without divulging much details, the police told the news agency that they had detained some of the accused.
The PTI report stated that the 17-year-old girl is a resident of the Nallasopara area and that the two persons lured her since 2021 on the promise of marriage and allegedly raped her repeatedly in separate incidents.
The girl was impregnated twice and had two children but the accused persons later abandoned her and the children, the official from Achole Police station told the news agency.
The officials said that one of the alleged assaulters had taken the Palghar girl to Amravati when she was pregnant and got her delivery done under an alias before he abandoned her and the child.
According to the report, eight of the accused, including the girl's parents and uncle and had taken Rs 4 lakh from each of the alleged rapists through an acquaintance and handed over her girl child to a person for sale. Reportedly, the cops have also booked the two doctors of hospitals where the minor gave birth and an advocate, however, why the advocate has been booked is not known.
Reportedly, the cops have registered a case against the 16 accused under Sections 376 (rape), 376(2)(n) (aggravated sexual assault), 317 (exposure and abandonment of child under 12 years by parent or person having care of it), 363 (kidnapping), 372 (selling minor for purposes of prostitution) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
The accused have been also booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Juvenile Justice Act, the police told PTI.
