By PTI
KOTA: A 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped and her mother beaten up into silence by stepfather for about half a decade, police here said on Friday.
The ordeal came to an end Thursday night, when the girl and her mother finally mustered courage to report the matter to police, when the man, a daily wage labourer, tried to rape her again in a drunken state, they said.
The police filed a case against the 35-year-old under sections of the IPC and the POCSO Act and produced the girl before Child Welfare Committee (CWC) late Thursday night that ordered to send her to a shelter home.
During her counselling at RK Puram Police Station – where the matter was reported — the girl alleged repeated rape by her stepfather, saying he would always attack her in an inebriated state, CWC member Vimal Jain told PTI.
The victim alleged that her stepfather, a drunk, had been raping her for the last 4-5 years, he said.
She alleged that when her mother came to her defence she too was beaten up by the man, who threatened to kill them both if they ever told about the matter to anyone outside, Jain said.
During once such beating, her mother even received an arm fracture, she alleged, Jain said.
A medical examination of the girl has been conducted, but her statement under section 164 before magistrate is yet to be recorded, he said.
The victim, who has never been to school due to poverty, said her mother is the second wife of the accused, and they had both got engaged six years ago through Nata Pratha (a tradition of keeping a woman as wife by paying of money to her parents).
Anil Joshi, Circle Inspector RK Puram Police Station, said an investigation into the matter is underway and the accused is yet to be arrested.
