LUCKNOW: In a shocking incident, a 15-year-old girl was raped inside the high-security Lohia Park in Lucknow by a man whom she befriended on a social media site Instagram.
The minor, a student of class VII, has been admitted to Jhalkari Bai hospital after her condition worsened.
The suspect, 20-year-old Vidya Sagar Kushwaha, was taken into custody late on Tuesday night in Kanpur. The police have filed a FIR and are awaiting the survivor's mental recovery before taking her statement.
The culprit was located by the police using electronic tracking. He lives in Kanpur with his family and works in a textile plant in Gujarat.
The victim's father said in the FIR filed with the Gomti Nagar police station that his daughter became acquainted with the accused after meeting them both on a social networking site.
She received a call from the man asking her to meet him in Lohia Park.
"When my daughter arrived at the park, the accused abducted her, transported her to a remote location, sexually assaulted her, and then abandoned her there. She made it home somehow and was sitting in a corner in shock when her mother asked what had happened. When she described her experience, her mother noticed that she was bleeding” he said.
The girl was taken to the Civil Hospital by the family, who then called the police, and from there she was sent to the Jhalkari Bai hospital. The family also gave the authorities the phone number the accused had used to contact the survivor.
The East Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police Prachi Singh said an FIR under the charges of rape and the POCSO Act has been lodged.
She said: "The girl's mother works as a domestic helper, while her father pulls carts. Without telling her parents, the adolescent girl left home to see the accused." The kid is being watched, according to Ranjana Khare, chief medical superintendent at Jhalkari Bai Hospital. She stated that although "her bodily health has stabilised," she was still experiencing emotional shock.
In the last three days, there have been three rape cases reported in the state capital.
A 16-year-old schoolgirl was raped earlier on Saturday night by two people, one of whom was an auto-rickshaw driver. Aakash Tiwari, a 21-year-old auto-rickshaw driver, was detained by police on Monday. The co-accused remains on the loose.
A 52-year-old lady submitted a complaint on Sunday, claiming that three ashram employees sexually assaulted her on October 4 while high on drugs. A case investigation is being conducted.
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