In a horrific incident, a 38-year-old man was accused of raping a 27-year-old woman, forcing her to marry him, and torturing her gruesomely by branding her abdomen with cigarette butts and hot ‘tawa’. The incident, which started four years ago, resulted in an FIR being filed against the accused and five members of his family, including his mother.
According to the police, the victim and the accused met through social media in 2021. The accused then befriended her, took her to a lodge in Ulhasnagar town and raped her after recording some objectionable videos of her. He threatened to upload them on the internet if she resisted his advances, and thus raped her multiple times.
The victim was forced to marry and taken to Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, where she was further subjected to physical torture. The accused and his mother were accused of cutting her hair and eyebrows, keeping her in confinement, and inflicting grievous injuries by using a hot ‘tawa’ and cigarette burns.
Accused also snatched her Aadhaar and PAN cards and misused them to get loans. They threatened to upload her objectionable video on social media if she failed to extort money from her father.
The victim approached the police with a complaint on Sunday, after which the police registered a case against the accused under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including for repeat rape, assault, sexual harassment, and coercion. The police are still to make any arrests in this case and are investigating it.