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In a bizarre case in Maharajganj, a panchayat tried to hush up the rape of a minor girl by directing the victim to take Rs 50,000 from the accused and hit him five times with a slipper as restitution in Kothibhar police station area some days back.
The matter came to light after the victim's family refused to accept the panchayat's ruling and approached the police to get justice. Subsequently, the cops got a case registered and launched a hunt for the accused. As per reports, the 13-year-old girl was dragged to a thicket and raped by a local villager while she was picking vegetables from her field in Kothibhar area of Maharajganj in the evening of June 23.
After the victim's family raised a complaint with the gram panchayat, the family members of the accused were summoned. However, in the meeting, the accused’s family denied the accusations and abused and threatened the victim and her kin. The survivor's family did not file a police complaint and approached the village panchayat for justice. On its part, after hearing both sides, the panchayat handed out a bizarre decision of a fine of Rs 50,000 on the accused and ordered that the victim hit him five times with a slipper.
Stunned and humiliated, the victim and her family approached the Kothbhar police station on June 25, after which an FIR was registered under relevant sections of the IPC and the POCSO Act. While the rapist was at large, the police said that a case was registered, the victim was medically examined and efforts were underway to nab the accused.
The victim will be also produced before a judicial magistrate to get her statement recorded.
Elsewhere in Jaunpur, the 17-year-old daughter of a home guard was raped and murdered in Badlapur on Tuesday night.
The victim and her family members were sleeping in their home, when around midnight, her kin found her missing. As they launched a search for her, they stumbled upon her semi-nude body near a village pond, close to her house on Wednesday morning. She had several ante mortem injury marks suggesting that she might have been sexually assaulted before being killed by the assailant.
After preliminary inquiry, the police called forensic experts to collect evidence which could help in cracking the case.
Meanwhile in Sitapur, a 'tantrik' was arrested for thrashing a 16-year-old girl with a belt and burning her with incense sticks on the pretext of treating her stomach aches in Ramkot village some days back. The incident came to light after the girl's condition deteriorated and she had to be hospitalised.
The girl was suffering from stomach ache for the past few months after which her parents took her to a local tantric, identified as Ishtiyaq, on June 20.
But in the name of treatment, Ishtiyaq burnt her with incense sticks, thrashed her with belts and assaulted her. The girl's condition started deteriorating earlier this week, after which her parents admitted her to a hospital where she narrated her ordeal. In her statement to the police, the girl said that she was subjected to cruelty after which a case was registered against the tantrik and he was arrested.