UP: Father 'gifts' daughter to friends, then they gangrape her
In a horrific case, a man in Sitapur, UP, allegedly "gifted" his 35-year-old daughter to his friends and joined them in gangraping her, TOI reports. One of the three accused was arrested on Tuesday; the father is absconding. The woman had been married off 16 years ago, but had come back to stay with her parents two years later.
The incident happened on April 15, cops said. The father, in his late 50s, had taken his daughter to a fair in Kamlapur. Once there, he called his friend Maan Singh, a history-sheeter. The two then convinced her to accompany them on a bike to the house of their friend Meraj. But after reaching, the three overpowered her and took turns to rape her.
The woman was kept confined in Meraj's house till she managed to escape Monday evening. She reached home and informed her mother, and they registered an FIR the same day. On Tuesday, police arrested Meraj, a quack in Kamlapur. "He claimed to be a medical practitioner but couldn't produce a degree," said SHO Sanjeet Sonkar. The father and Maan Singh are on the run.
Incidentally, the father had been banished from their village last November following reports of his incestuous relationship with his daughter. "A panchayat was called and he was arrested. He got bail in February," said cops. The woman and her 14-year-old son then started staying separately.
2018 has been rocked by reports of violent rapes. The Kathua and Unnao crimes ignited fury, but the last week itself saw more cases: a nine-year-old was found dead in Surat after being raped for eight days; and a seven-year-old was raped and killed at a wedding in Etah. In Delhi, a 15-year-old's parents attempted to "settle" her rape case for Rs. 5L.
