On Monday, the Maharashtra Police arrested four persons for raping a 35-year-old Hindu woman, torturing her family, and forcing them to convert their religion to Christianity. The FIR in the case was registered on February 4 against five persons of which, four have been identified as Butti, Prerna, Bhausaheb Dodke, and Pastor Rahul. The identity of the fifth accused is not yet known. The FIR has been filed under IPC sections 323, 328, 344, 376D, 504, 506, 34, and 76(1) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
According to the FIR copy obtained by OpIndia, the incident is said to have happened in the Davat Mala area of the Sinnar, Nasik in Maharashtra. The victim, in the complaint, mentioned that the accused had been torturing her and her family since November last year. They had trapped the woman and raped her several times since November 2022.
The woman and her husband are labourers and moved with their three kids to Sinnar from Raytewadi, Sangamner, in search of a labour job 2-3 years ago. They kept on doing temporary jobs for survival and also kept on searching for permanent employment side-by-side. The saga began on November 30 last year when the woman stepped out of the house in search of a job. She was suddenly stopped by the accused while she was on her way to Musalgaon for a job inquiry.
“The women stopped me. They asked me where I was going and why I was looking tense. I told them that I was going to Musalgaon for a job inquiry. On this, they asked me to accompany them and assured me that they would provide me with a job in the locality. The women introduced themselves as Butti and Prerna. They took me to their home where I saw another man in there (Bhausaheb). The three of them then asked me that did I know anything about Jesus and Christianity. They also asked me to convert my religion to Christianity and told me that all my financial problems would be solved by accepting Christianity,” the victim said.
She added that after some time, Pastor Rahul arrived on the spot, offered her a ‘red drink’, and showed her the picture of Jesus. “I was forcefully made to drink some red water. After that, I started losing consciousness. Later I was trapped in the room by Butti and Prerna where Bhausaheb established sexual relations with me without my knowledge and permission,” the victim stated in the complaint.
According to the complaint further, Butti and Prerna on December 2, then took the victim’s gold necklace (Mangalsutra) and tied a black thread around her neck to signify that she had been converted to Christianity. The woman was brutally tortured while she was trapped in a room by the accused. The victim woman also said that Pastor Rahul and Bhausaheb arrived with a 40-year-old unidentified man and the three raped her on December 2.
The woman tried to tell about the sexual assault to Prerna and Butti but was brutally manhandled by the accused men. They physically assaulted her and threatened to kill her if she attempted to tell anyone about the rape. “Meanwhile, Butti and Prerna got another man in the house and told me that he would be my owner. I realized that these people were trying to sell me. I strongly protested and began yelling in the room. I also used abusive language for the man who fled from the spot then,” the victim woman stated in the complaint.
On December 17, the husband of the victim, who had been searching for her since her abduction, happened to reach the spot. He was accompanied by his younger son. The duo was threatened and asked to leave. On refusal, Bhausaheb caught the little boy and trapped him. He hit the kid and forced him to beg for them on the streets. “My husband was also threatened to be killed so he did not come again to the house where now I and my son were trapped,” the woman said.
The husband of the victim, however, sought help and managed to save his wife and his kid on December 29. The accused then asked the victim and her family to leave Sinnar immediately and keep their mouth shut. According to the FIR copy, the victim returned to Sangamner and sought the help of a social worker who guided them to file a police complaint. The complaint in the case was registered on February 4 and all the accused have been booked in the case.
According to the local reports, the accused have been arrested by the Police and will be kept in the custody till the 8th of February before the court proceedings begin. OpIndia tried to contact the Police for confirmation but the line remained unestablished.
The FIR in the case has been filed under IPC sections 323, 328, 344, 376D, 504, 506, 34 and 76(1) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. Further investigations into the case are underway.
