Uttar Pradesh: 13-yr-old girl allegedly raped by Police officer when she went to file rape case

Lalitpur: A Station House Officer (SHO) in Uttar Pradesh was suspended and the entire staff of the Pali police station in Lalitpur district was sent to the Police Lines on Wednesday after the officer raped a 13-year-old girl here.

Police sources said the girl was enticed by four persons on April 22 and taken to Bhopal where she was gang raped for three days.

"Later the accused left the girl in Pali and escaped. The police initially handed over the victim to an aunt of the victim on April 25," an officer said.

Police sources said that on April 27 the SHO called the girl on the pretext of recording her statement and physically assaulted her inside the police station.

"On April 30, the police handed over the girl to Child Line where she narrated the incident to the officials. After this the Child Line officials called the victim's mother, who said that she was physically abused by five persons, including the SHO," the sources said.

Later, the victim's mother lodged an FIR against six persons.

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said the SHO has been suspended. The suspension was ordered by Superintendent of Police Nikhil Pathak.

ADG (Kanpur Zone) Bhanu Bhaskar said the staff of the Pali police station has been sent to Police Lines.

Meanwhile, three persons, including a woman, have been arrested in this connection.

"A case has been lodged under serious sections and no one will be spared," a police officer said.

Priyanka Gandhi slams UP govt over rape of minor by SHO

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government over the incident of a 13-year gang rape victim being raped by a SHO in a police station in Lalitpur of Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress leader said law and order reforms in the state were being suppressed by the noise of 'bulldozers'. "The gang-rape of a 13-year-old girl in Lalitpur and then raped by a SHO after taking a complaint shows how genuine law and order reforms are being suppressed in the noise of "bulldozers"," Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet.

"If police stations are not safe for women, then where will they take complaints?" She said many points related to women's safety were highlighted by Congress in its manifesto for the recent assembly election.

"Has the UP government seriously thought about increasing the deployment of women in police stations to make police stations safe for women? The Congress party had mentioned many important points on women's safety in its women's manifesto," she said.

"To prevent such incidents, serious steps have to be taken for women's safety and women-friendly law and order," she said. (Inputs from UNI)