Mumbai: Three booked for ‘rape’ of disabled woman, police probing if complaint linked to dowry harassment case against her family

Additional Commissioner of Police (central region) D Chavan said an FIR for sexual assault had been registered against three persons. “Investigations are at a preliminary stage. No arrests have been made,” Chavan told The Indian Express. The FIR was registered on December 23.

An officer said according to the complaint, the girl’s family members observed that the 24-year-old, who suffers from a disability, appeared anxious and was doing odd things like pulling her hair recently.

Police said the family then consulted a counsellor during which time the girl revealed that in 2013 she was sexually assaulted by her sister-in-law’s brother.

The family told police the accused had threatened her again due to which she was under stress, and that the girl said her now estranged sister-in-law and another person helped the main accused keep the incident under wraps.

A case was registered under sections 376 (L) (committing rape on a woman suffering from physical or mental disability) in addition to sections of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, as the girl was a minor back then.

An officer said while they were investigating into the case and looking for evidence against the accused, they were also trying to verify if the case was linked to the dowry harassment case registered against the family.