A 14-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped by her father, has told the police that his father committed the crime because a ghost used to come in his dreams and tell him to rape his daughter.
The girl was allegedly raped for a year. The incident came to light when doctors at Thane civil hospital did a routine check up of school children at Kharegaon school No93.
While counselling the girls on various aspects on Thursday, doctors came across the victim. In the presence of volunteers from an NGO and doctors, the girl revealed her ordeal.
Accordingly, a case has been registered under sections 376 (punishment for rape), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant section of The Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The accused, Sanjay Jadhav 50, was produced in court and will remain in police custody till December 9.
Gauri Rathod, Thane civil surgeon, said, "When the girl narrated her ordeal I felt miserable for her. I called up joint commissioner police, VV Laxminarayan, and told him. The girl's father was arrested within hours."
Lakshminarayana said, "I asked the Child Protection Unit to look into the issue. The girl has been sent to Bhiwandi remand home."
Madan Bhallal, senior police inspector from Child Protection Unit said, "After we got a call from joint commissioner we immediately formed a team rescued the girl. She told us that she wanted to study, but because of her father's behaviour, she could not concentrate. Shockingly, the girl's mother was beaten up by her husband each time she raised her objection. In fact, many times, the girl's mother was thrown out of home and threatened to be killed."
