A 15-year-old girl from the Barwani district in Madhya Pradesh was reportedly gang-raped by four men after she refused to convert to Islam to solemnize marriage with the prime accused.
In yet another incident of fake identity and attempt to forceful conversion, the 15-year-old girl had come in contact with a Majid Khan (23) who introduced himself as Mohit while she was working in Maharashtra’s Malegaon as a laborer last year. Khan after befriending the minor sexually assaulted the girl after promising to marry her.
In October last year, Khan tried to forcefully change the girl’s religion to Islam. When she resisted the conversion, Khan along with his three friends gang-raped the girl.
The girl then fled to her sister’s house in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh but did not approach the police. In April this year, she complained of abdominal pain, following which she was admitted to a hospital. Her medical examination revealed that she was pregnant.
“She had a premature delivery in the hospital, but the baby died. It was then that the girl shared her ordeal with another woman in the hospital, who then informed a Hindu organisation and the police about it,” informed Ujjain ASP Amrendra Singh.
Following this incident, a case has been registered by the police under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act.
The state police sought the cooperation of the Maharashtra Police to arrest the accused. Early this month, with help from the minor survivor, the police called Khan to Ujjain and recorded his arrest handing him over to Malegaon police.
Ujjain superintendent of police Satendra Shukla informed, “We are also taking legal opinion about registering a case in the girl’s home district of Barwani in Madhya Pradesh as the MP Freedom of Religion Act will not be applicable in Maharashtra.”
Last week, the body of the premature child was exhumed for conducting DNA paternity tests.
The police is on the lookout for the other three accused who are yet to be nabbed.
