02 December,2023 11:51 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
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On Saturday, Mumbai police arrested a 35-year-old man suspected of repeatedly raping a 31-year-old Mexican disc jockey (DJ). The arrest followed the victim's recent complaint against the accused, stated a PTI report.
According to the report, the complainant told the cops that the accused, who also works as a DJ, sexually attacked the victim multiple times beginning in 2019. The woman, who is currently staying in Mumbai, identified the accused as her manager.
The victim first met the accused on social media in 2017, according to the complaint. Following that, in July 2019, the accused allegedly sexually raped her at his Bandra apartment, and then repeatedly assaulted her.
A police official was quoted in the PTI report as saying, "The woman said in her complaint that she met the accused through social media in 2017. He allegedly sexually assaulted her at his home in Bandra in July 2019, after which he raped her on multiple occasions. The woman said that the accused used to force himself on her by threatening to kick her out of an assignment if she refused. He also allegedly blackmailed her through some of her intimate pictures."
The accused allegedly forced the victim by threatening to jeopardise her tasks and blackmailed her using intimate photographs. Despite marrying another lady in 2020, he continued to send improper messages and make sexual demands, according to the victim.
Following the victim's statement, the police filed an arrest warrant for the accused under Indian Penal Code sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural sex), 354 (attack on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), and 506 (criminal intimidation). The investigation is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, in another case, a 50-year-old man was handed a life sentence by a special POCSO court in Mumbai for sexually assaulting his niece and causing her pregnancy. The court's order noted the accused's repeated rape of the survivor, which resulted in her pregnancy and subsequent abortion, forcing her to seek refuge at a Child Welfare Committee shelter home.
The man's case dates back to July of 2017. The survivor, who is originally from Uttar Pradesh and was schooled there till Class 6, travelled to Mumbai in 2012 to further her studies, living with her uncle's household. For two years, the witness stated, her uncle sexually harassed her, making unwanted advances whenever they were alone at home. He sexually abused her after Holi in March 2017, and she threatened to keep it a secret.