16-year-old married girl raped by 400 people, sexually assaulted by policeman

Beed/Bhubaneswar: A 16-year-old married girl in Maharashtra’s Beed district was reportedly raped by 400 people over the last six months.

The girl was allegedly also sexually exploited by a policeman when she tried to lodge a complaint. The victim is now two months pregnant.

A case was registered under The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and rape and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code after the teenager lodged her complaint with the police this week.

“I have been abused by many people. I went to Ambajogai police station several times to file a complaint, but the police took no action against the culprits. Instead, I was harassed by a policeman,” she said in a statement to the child welfare committee.

According to news agency ANI, the Superintendent of Police in Beed, Raja Ramasamy, on Sunday said that three people have been arrested in connection with the case so far.

The girl lost her mother two years ago. Following her death, the girl’s father married her off eight months ago. However, the girl’s in-laws and husband subjected her to physical and mental assault.

To escape her trauma, the girl ran away from her husband and returned to her father’s home. When her father did not take her back, she again hit the roads and resorted to begging at a bus stand at Ambajogai in Beed district. She was soon exposed to sexual exploitation thereafter.

An investigation is underway to nab the other culprits in the case.