15-Year-Old Athlete Forcibly Drugged, Gangraped During morning Run In Punjab’s Ferozpur

Based on the 15-year-old survivor's statement, police charged the accused with rape under the IPC and POCSO Act at a local police station.

Ferozpur: A gang of four men raped a 15-year-old girl in a village under the Mamdot police station in Ferozpur. The minor is an athlete and was out for a run in the morning when the incident occurred.

According to available information, the athlete left her residence at 6am for a run on Sunday. After covering about half a kilometre, she encountered the four individuals, including a fellow villager named Luvpreet Singh alias Labhu. He allegedly coerced her into consuming an intoxicating substance, following which she lost consciousness. Subsequently, the accused took her to an undisclosed location and committed the crime.

Based on the 15-year-old survivor’s statement, the police have filed charges against accused Luvpreet Singh, Pamma Singh, Jaspreet Singh and Gurmeet Singh under section 376, which lays out punishment for rape, of the Indian Penal Code and section 6 of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Moved to hospital in a critical condition due to the gruesome assault, the girl is now out of danger.

In another incident, a 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped and impregnated by a 23-year-old man. The accused, who also allegedly abetted her suicide, was arrested from Mumbai Suburban, the police said on Saturday.

Based on a complaint lodged by the girl’s mother, the police on Friday arrested the accused from the Govandi area of neighbouring Mumbai, the official from Koparkhairane police station, Navi Mumbai, said.

He has been booked under sections 305 (abetting suicide of a minor), 376(2)(n) (repeated rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

Crime Against Women Rises By 4%, Reveals NCRB Data

An increase of four per cent in crime against women was observed in a recent report by NCRB. Cruelty by husbands or relatives continued to be the predominant factor, constituting 31.4% of the cases, involving 1.44 lakh victims, according to the NCRB’s ‘Crime In India’ report for 2022. On an average, 50 cases were reported in an hour and 1,220 cases in one day.

According to the report, Delhi recorded the highest crime rate against women in the country, with 14,247 cases in 2022, resulting in a rate of 144.4, which is above the national average of 66.4. There were 14,277 cases in 2021 and 10,093 cases in 2020.

Uttar Pradesh reported 65,743 cases of crime against women, followed by Maharashtra (45,331), Rajasthan (45,058), West Bengal (34,738), and Madhya Pradesh (32,765). These five states mentioned account for approximately 50 per cent of the total cases reported in India in 2022

The report focused on cases of murder with rape/gang-rape at 248, involving 250 victims in 2022, and 284 cases in 2021 involving 293 victims. Rape incidents consisted to 31,516 cases with 31,982 victims, including 1,017 girls below 18 years, according to the report.