A 40-year-old man was arrested after a police investigation into the case of his missing teenaged daughter revealed that she had been sexually abused by him for several years. Officers at the Oshiwara police station said the victim, 17, stays with her parents in Jogeshwari and had allegedly been subjected to abuse since she was 12.
Police said the victim went missing two weeks ago, and her disappearance was reported by her mother. In keeping with the procedure for dealing with cases of missing minors, the police registered a case of kidnapping and initiated inquiries.
“After eight days of investigation, which included questioning her friends and acquaintances, we traced her to a friend’s residence in Jogeshwari last week, where she had been staying ever since running away from home. We then asked her why she had run away, and she was initially evasive and gave vague replies, saying that she was upset over trivial matters and was angry with her parents. However, in any case involving a missing minor, we are required by law to make sure that the minor has not fled due to any serious problems with her parents. If this is found to be the case, we are bound to report it to the Child Welfare Committee or take action ourselves, depending on the situation,” said an officer with the Oshiwara police.
Suspecting that the victim was reluctant to talk in her mother’s presence, the police took the victim to a separate room, where women personnel quizzed her carefully and sensitively. Shortly, the victim started crying and told the police that her father had been sexually exploiting her.
According to her statement, her father first forced himself on her when she was 12 when her mother was out of town for a few days, and repeated the act at least two to three times whenever her mother was out, after which the exploitation stopped. He had threatened to kill the victim if she told anyone about the crime, and she kept silent. However, over the last couple of months, he had started sexually abusing her again whenever he found himself alone in the house with her. Having lived with the trauma once, the victim was unable to tolerate it again but was also afraid to tell her mother due to her father’s repeated threats.
Finding herself out of options, she decided to run away from home and went to her best friend’s house, making her promise not to tell anyone about her whereabouts. The two girls also managed to convince the friend’s parents to let her stay for some days without informing anyone, the victim told the police.
After recording a detailed statement from the victim, the police placed her father under arrest. “We have charged the accused with rape, molestation, assault and criminal intimidation under the IPC and for sexual assault on a minor under the POCSO Act. He has been remanded to police custody and we are interrogating him further to find out more about the exploitation,” the officer added.
Victim was afraid to tell her mother about the abuse due to her father’s repeated threats
