Ghaziabad: Parents away, youth drags minor by hair, rapes her; held

GHAZIABAD: A 23-year-old scrap dealer was arrested for allegedly assaulting and raping a 16-year-old girl on Thursday.
The accused had barged into her home when her parents were away on Wednesday evening, dragged her by the hair and forced her to inhale from and sedative-laced handkerchief. A complaint submitted by the girl's father claimed the accused also beat up the girl's brother, who was at home and tried to stop the assault.
"My children were sleeping when the accused barged into the house. He dragged my daughter out of the room by the hair, and repeatedly kicked and slapped her. When my son tried to intervene, he beat him up too. He made my daughter sniff some sedative by gagging her with a handkerchief," the girl's father, who drives an e-rickshaw, said.
The next thing that the girl recalls was waking up in the kitchen and feeling intense pain in her lower abdomen.
On Thursday, a mob vandalised a shop owned by the accused and set his e-rickshaw ablaze. A group of women also staged a protest near Suryanagar police outpost seeking capital punishment for the accused.
Police commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra said the accused was arrested under BNS sections 65 (1) (rape), 123 (causing hurt by means of poison etc. with intent to commit an offence), 333 (housetrespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) and several sections of Pocso Act after a complaint was submitted at Link Road police station. “We are trying to identify the persons who tried to disrupt peace in the area. Some people spread false information about a gang rape to incite others. We will take action against them,” the commissioner said.