The usually peaceful Thane locality was shaken on Saturday morning when a 17-year-old girl began gesturing frantically and calling for help from the balcony of her first-floor residence. Residents who went over to enquire were shocked when the girl told them that she was being confined and raped by her father for more than a month.
According to the Naupada police, the prolonged abuse came to light when the girl rang her neighbour’s doorbell early on Saturday. “ Mujhe bachao, yahaan se nikalo. Mere pitaji mere saath jabardasti se galat karte hain (Save me, get me out of here. My father is forcing himself on me),” was all the girl was able to get out before her stepmother forced her back into the house.
A short while later, the girl appeared on the balcony and began waving her arms and making pleading gestures with folded hands to attract the attention of passers-by. Some residents who noticed her distress went to her house and confronted her stepmother. The victim then told them a horrifying tale of physical and mental abuse that she had been facing.
Senior PI Anil Pophale, Naupada police station, said, “The victim and her brother stay in their hometown, while her father, who now works as a security guard, lives with his second wife in Thane. The victim’s mother passed away some years ago. The victim told local residents on Saturday that her father had imprisoned her in the house and had been sexually abusing her for a month. They alerted us.”
In her statement to the police, the victim said she came to visit her father on October 1 this year. When she entered the bedroom where he was having a drink, he allegedly shut the door, made her drink milk mixed with liquor, and raped her. The victim confided in her stepmother, but was told by her that reporting the matter would only serve to bring her into disrepute. The stepmother, the victim alleged, kept her confined to the house and did not allow her to use the phone.
Mr. Pophale said, “Over the next month, the accused forced her to consume liquor, watch indecent material on his cell phone and laptop computer, and sexually abused her almost every day. Her stepmother, too, participated in the exploitation by forcing her to sleep with her father. The victim managed to slip out of the house on Saturday morning when her father was at work and her mother was taking a bath.”
The victim also told the police that she was physically assaulted by her father and stepmother. Police said bite marks have been found on her body during medical examination. The police have charged the father with rape, and both accused with assault, criminal intimidation and wrongful confinement under the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Residents who noticed her distress went to her house and confronted
her stepmother
