The station house officer (SHO) of a police station in Pali of Lalitpur district in Uttar Pradesh was arrested on Wednesday for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl gang-rape survivor.
The girl, hailing from Lalitpur, was taken to Bhopal, on April 22 by four men and raped there for three days. The men left the girl at the Pali police station, where she was again sexually attacked by the SHO Tilakdhari Saroj.
The girl had narrated her ordeal during counselling at an NGO, which approached the superintendent of police. Following his intervention, an FIR was registered on Tuesday.
After the FIR was registered, the SHO went on the run. Saroj was arrested from Prayagraj.
Prayagraj Additional Director General of Police Prem Prakash said Saroj was arrested from near the Allahabad High Court.
So far, police have arrested six people in connection with the case.
After the incident came to light, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took suo motu cognizance of the matter and sent notices to the Uttar Pradesh government and the state police chief, on Wednesday. The NHRC observed that the incident amounted to human right violations of the survivor.
In a statement, it said the NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that a 13-year-old girl was raped by the in-charge of the police station in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh when she went there to get an FIR registered about her gang-rape. Accordingly, it has issued notices to the chief secretary, and the director general of police, seeking a report within four weeks, it said.
Congress and the Samajwadi Party targetted the Yogi Adityanath-led state government over the incident.
In a series of tweets, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the incident of the gang-rape and then rape by a police officer after taking a complaint shows how the real reforms of law and order are being suppressed under the noise of the bulldozer.
"If police stations are not safe for women, where will they go with their complaints."
"Has the UP government seriously thought about increasing the deployment of women in police stations, making them safer for women? The Congress party had in its women's manifesto made many important points for women security..Today its Lalitpur...", she said.
“The biggest question in the BJP government is whom to trust and whom to not. A minor, who reached the police station to file rape complaint was raped by the SHO himself. Now the CM should say, where should the victim daughters go? Security of the victim should be ensured and strict action should be taken against those found guilty," the Samajwadi Party said in a tweet in Hindi.
—With PTI inputs
