PANJIM: From the time she stepped into her teens till now, when she’s on the threshold of adulthood, but still a minor girl child, she was raped by not one but three men. And this isn’t a story from the badlands of western UP or the recesses of Bihar. This is a tale of a 16-year-old, living in and around the Mapusa and Porvorim police station areas, who was brutalised by two of her close relatives and another man who works for one of the accused.
The victim finally had the courage to complain. The girl said she was picked up by a relative from school and later raped. Thereafter, the Mapusa police arrested the alleged rapist relative, a Tivim resident, who picked her up from school. Based on the girl’s statements, Porvorim police arrested a second relative on charges of raping a minor.
Mapusa Police Inspector Tushar Lotlikar said that the sexual abuse occurred for the past two years and came to light after the girl complained to the police on Thursday that she was raped by a man on the 19th of this month. Police also revealed that the accused is a close relative of the girl.
Police arrested the man and he has been remanded to seven days police custody. The man has been arrested under Sections 363, 342, 376 of IPC, Section 8 of Goa Children’s Act and Sections 4, 8, 11 & 12 of POSCO (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012).
While the girl’s statement was being recorded she revealed, in the presence of NGOs, that she was being sexually abused by another relative and one other person for the last two years.
Based on the statement, Mapusa Police alerted Porvorim Police as she was also abused in Porvorim police jurisdiction. Based on the complaint and the girl’s statement, Porvorim Police also booked a case against two persons and arrested one and are hunting for the other. Police said that one of the two is also a relative of the girl.
Porvorim Police Inspector Jivba Dalvi said a team has been sent to trace the man who is a resident of Bardez. He said that the offence against both the accused has been registered under Sections 376, of IPC, Section 8 of the Goa Children’s Act and Section 4 & 12 of POSCO Act, 2012.
