The Jogeshwari police on Sunday arrested three people after a 23-year-old woman filed a complaint of gang-rape against them last week. The main accused is the husband of the victim and the couple stays in Palghar district.
“As per the complainant’s statement, the incident occurred on November 30 last year. Her husband took her to Jogeshwari, telling her that he was taking her out for a movie but instead took her to a small room in a slum, where the other two accused were present. He then forced her to sleep with both of them and also had forcible intercourse with her,” an officer with the Jogeshwari police said.
The officer said the victim was afraid of the stigma that would be attached if she reported the incident to the authorities, and chose to stay silent for over a month. However, she started fearing that if her husband could force her into sleeping with strangers once, he could do it again. Unwilling to go through the same ordeal, she finally approached the Palghar police last week.
“The Palghar police registered an FIR on Saturday and transferred the case to us as the offence occurred within our jurisdiction. We arrested all the three accused on Sunday,” police inspector Uday Kadam, Jogeshwari police station, said. Sources said the police first arrested the victim’s husband and based on his interrogation, picked up the other two, who stay in Jogeshwari, from their residences.
The police have so far been able to ascertain that the victim’s husband got to know the other two accused via Facebook. Inquiries are under way to find out if he was offered or received any monetary compensation in exchange for his offence. The police have also seized cell phones of all the three accused to check if any of them recorded the offence.
“The three have been remanded in police custody till January 29 and we are probing the matter,” Mr. Kadam said.
