Threatened her with life if she disclosed the matter to anyone...
A man was arrested for raping and impregnating a 12-year-old girl, on Sunday Mangaluru police said. The accused, Muhammad Shafi Yane Shafi of Ullal town, was arrested after the girl and her mother lodged a complaint at the Mangalore Women’s Police Station on July 25.
According to police the girl, who is in class eight, met Shafi who is an auto driver on her way to school. He started talking to her frequently and even learned about her house address. In January 2023, Shafi visited the girl’s house when she was alone and allegedly raped her. Then he blackmailed her, threatened her with life if she disclosed the matter to anyone and continued to rape her on other occasions when she was alone, officials said.
The matter came to light when the girl’s family noticed that her belly was getting bigger, and her menstrual cycle had stopped. The parents took her to the hospital and the doctor confirmed that she was six months pregnant. A case under Pocso Act has been registered at the Mangalore women’s police station and the accused was arrested on Saturday morning, officials said.
The accused was produced before the JMFC court and remanded to judicial custody for 15 days.
‘’Soon after receiving the complaint, we registered a case under IPC 376 (rape) 506 (criminal intimidation) and Pocso and arrested the accused,” Mangalore women police station inspector and investigation officer A C Lokesh told. We have intimated the district juvenile justice board and sent the minor girl for medical check-up, he added.
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