The Uttar Pradesh Police arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl in Bulandshahr Tuesday. Officers are searching for his mother who has been named as co-accused in the case. According to the First Information Report (FIR) lodged by the girl’s uncle, the Class 7 student was going to school at around 8.30 am when the accused allegedly pulled her into his shop and forced himself on her. The accused is also said to have threatened her with dire consequences if she revealed the matter to others. Rohit Mishra, Superintendent of Police (Rural), Bulandshahr, said, “The minor cried for help, drawing the attention of passersby and the school guards who ran to the shop and rescued her. The accused and his mother then fled. We arrested the man later but his mother is on the run.” The officer-in-charge of the local police station said the girl’s parents were deceased and she was living with her uncle who is a retired Army man. “The accused’s 46-year-old mother threatened the two school guards saying that more girls at the school will be harmed but later she escaped when more people gathered at the shop,” the officer added. The SP said the accused was charged under section 4 (penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act while the girl was sent for medical examination. Meanwhile, activists of outfits including the Bajrang Dal briefly gathered the police station and demanded that the accused’s mother be arrested and their house razed.
