In a shocking incident, a 25-year-old man has been booked by police for allegedly raping a woman at a quarantine centre in the Panvel area of Navi Mumbai on Thursday night.
According to reports, both the accused and the woman had been placed in quarantine and the man tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
The Times of India reported that the woman had been in the quarantine centre of the Panvel City Municipal Corporation in Kon village for five days. The accused befriended her while visiting his brother who had been infected with COVID-19. The accused himself was admitted to the COVID-19 centre on Thursday after he showed symptoms of COVID-19.
On Thursday evening, the man allegedly went to the victim's room. The Hindustan Times reported, "During their conversation, she told her she was having leg pain. He claimed he is a doctor and offered to give her a leg massage. He then sexually assaulted her..." an official of the Panvel Rural Police Station told Hindustan Times.
“We have booked the accused under sections 376 (rape) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman) of the Indian Penal Code. He is currently not under arrest as he has tested positive and is getting treatment for COVID-19,” senior inspector Ashok Rajput told Hindustan Times. The woman's status for COVID-19 is yet unclear.
The accused had worked at a mall and was, reportedly, out of work since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown. The victim was a 40-year-old homemaker, who was married to an auto-rickshaw driver.
This is believed to be the first incident of rape at a quarantine facility in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Earlier this week, a guard at the Patna Medical College and Hospital in Patna was arrested for allegedly raping a minor at the COVID-19 quarantine centre at the premises.
