A 50-year-old Thane resident has been arrested for allegedly raping his 14-year-old daughter repeatedly over one year because, according to him, a ghost used to come in his dreams every night asking him to rape the child.
The accused, charged for rape and under other relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, was produced in court and has been sent to police custody till December 9.
The incident came to light on Thursday during a routine check-up by doctors from Thane civil hospital in Kharegaon school number 93, where the victim studies. The students had queued up for counselling when doctors saw the victim, who too was in line, dozing off. When asked if she was feeling all right, the girl broke down and told them that her father had been raping her repeatedly and not letting her sleep at night.
The shocked doctors and members of an NGO, which had organised the medical check-up, immediately informed Thane civil surgeon Gauri Rathod.
"When I came to know about the incident, I immediately called up joint commissioner of police VV Laxminarayan and informed him about it. He then sent a team to rescue the girl and arrest her father," said Rathod.
Laxminarayan said, "The girl has been sent to Bhiwandi remand home. Further investigation is on."
"We have found out that the girl is really keen on studying but due to her father's atrocities she wasn't able to focus on them. Also, her mother knew what was going on and tried to put a stop to it several times. But every time she raised her voice against it, the accused would beat her up and threaten to kill her and their daughter. He even threw the mother out of the house a few times," said senior inspector from Child Protection Unit Madan Bhallal.
