16-year-old girl raped at gunpoint; accused on the run

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A 16-year-old girl, who had gone out to relieve herself, was allegedly raped at gunpoint in Bhabisa village in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, the police said on Sunday. The incident took place on Saturday, they said. The girl's father in his complaint alleged that the accused, identified as Kapil, took her into his house and raped her at gunpoint. He also threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed the matter, police said.

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The girl was found in an unconscious state at the accused's house, they said. Kandhla Station House Officer (SHO) D K Tyagi said a case was registered against the accused under Indian Penal Code Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) and Sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The accused has gone absconding and efforts are on to nab him, the SHO said. In another incident, a five-year-old girl was allegedly raped when she had gone out with her mother to a fair in Mirapur police station area in Muzaffranagar district Saturday.

According to the complaint lodged by the family, the girl had gone missing for some hours from near a temple where the fair was organised, SHO Santosh Kumar said. She was allegedly raped and abandoned by the accused in a serious condition. A case was registered against unidentified persons and the girl was shifted to hospital, the SHO said.

In a similar incident, a teenage girl was allegedly raped by a man claiming to be an exorcist in a village in Devbhoomi Dwarka district of Gujarat, the police.

The parents of the 14-year-old survivor had approached the accused, a self-styled exorcist, for help as their daughter had not been keeping well, said a Kalyanpur police station official in the district. The incident took place Sunday at Bhatvadiya village, around 400km from Ahmedabad, he said. The accused, Bharat Sonagara, claimed to banish "evil spirits" from people, he said.

"The victim, who belonged to Bhatiya village (in the same district), was unwell and her parents approached the accused to help her out. "The accused asked the girl's parents to wait as he took the girl to an isolated area and raped her," the official said, quoting from the FIR lodged at the Kalyanpur police station. Sonagara threatened the girl and asked her not to tell anything about the incident to her parents, the police official said. However, the survivor narrated her ordeal to her parents after they reached home, he said.

The survivor's parents lodged a police complaint against Sonagara who was subsequently booked under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and also provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said. The accused is absconding and efforts are on to nab him, the official added.

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With inputs from PTI

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