Four minor rapes reported in a day in UP

Lucknow, April 23: At least four rape cases involving minors have been reported from various parts of Uttar Pradesh in a day, police said Tuesday.

As the national spotlight swivels to cases of child sexual abuse following the brutal rape of a five-year-old in New Delhi, prompting massive protests, Uttar Pradesh reported four cases Monday - two from Pratapgarh district, one from Siddharthanagar district and another from Sitapur district.

In the first case in Pratapgarh, a madrassa teacher and his accomplice were arrested for raping a 15-year-old student for two days. They were arrested after the victim's father filed a complaint with the local police.

In the second case, another teacher was arrested in the district for allegedly raping his 11-year-old relative.

On Monday evening, a minor girl was found dumped in the Pathra area of Siddharthanagar district. She later told police that two youths raped her in Aligarh town for three days.

In Sitapur district, a Dalit minor girl was abducted, repeatedly raped at gunpoint and then dumped in a village. Based on a complaint by the victim's father, the rapist has been arrested, a police official told IANS.

The day earlier, on Sunday, a girl was raped by three motorcycle-borne youths in Gadhmukteshwar town of Ghaziabad district while she was returning from a friend's house. The assailants are yet to be arrested.

Senior police officers admitted that cases of rape were continuing unabated in the state.

"Sadly, rape cases are happening and the society must take stock of the direction we all are heading in," a senior police official said.

He added that police had increased patrolling during night to check such crimes.

To take a stock of the law and order situation, the state's new director general of police, Devraj Nagar, has called a meeting of all senior police officers in the state capital Lucknow April 27.

IANS