Two men allegedly raped a 20-year-old Dalit woman in a forest in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani this month and threatened to kill her if she reported the assault to the police.
Police said the accused Gaurav Joshi and Sumit Rautela, who are in their 20s, were arrested after the matter came to light. The two have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 376D (gang rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act were removed from the First Information Report (FIR) after the woman’s age was confirmed.
Ramesh Bohra, the in charge of the local police station, said the woman’s brother filed a complaint saying his 17-year-old sister was gang raped on February 5. “We initially filed a complaint under relevant sections of the IPC and POCSO Act. However, it came to light during the investigation that the woman was 20. Hence, we removed the charges under the POCSO Act from the FIR.”
Bohra said they acted promptly and arrested the accused on February 8. “They were produced in a court and sent to jail.”
He cited the complaint in the case and said the woman was on her way to a market when Joshi lured her into the forest and raped her. “Thereafter, he called his friend Sumit who also raped her. The two subsequently threatened to kill her if she reported the matter to police.”
Courtesy : Hindustan times
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