New Delhi: When the whole world is rallying behind the parents and the families of rape victims in India, one such family decided to take the side of the rapist for the right price.
On April 10, a teenager from Delhi approached the police with a neighbour, and with her, carried Rs 5 Lakh that her parents had taken as an advance. She alleged that her parents had tried to convince her to alter her statement in court.
The 16-year-old girl went missing in August of 2017, following which a registered with the police. When the girl returned, she alleged that she was kidnapped and taken to various places where she was gang raped. Her captors released her a week later. The girl alleged that two men had kidnapped her, one of whom was a local property dealer. After the complaint was filed, the police registered a case of gang rape and the perpetrators were arrested.
One of the accused, after getting out on interim bail, visited the girl’s parents and offered to pay them Rs 20 Lakh to convince her to change her statement and withdraw the case against him.
Her parents were tempted by the offer and allegedly agreed to the “deal.” They soon began pressuring their daughter to change her statement and withdraw the case. The young girl kept refusing to give in, resulting in frequent clashes with her parents.
On April 10, while her parents were in court, the girl took the bribe from under the bed, where she knew it was hidden as she had eavesdropped on her parents’ conversation with her violator, and without counting the money, took it directly to the police.
The police have booked both the girl’s parents under section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act for punishment for cruelty to child and under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 195 (A) for threatening any person to give false evidence, 506 for criminal intimidation, and 120 (B) for criminal conspiracy.
The mother, being unaware that her daughter had approached the police, was arrested upon reaching their home, whereas the girl’s father fled after hearing of his wife’s arrest. The police have begun a manhunt to track down and arrest the girl’s father.
In the meanwhile, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has been given the custody of the girl and she has been sent to a children’s home.
