A 34-year-old man has been arrested in Mumbai for pressuring a 16-year-old girl for marriage, sexually assaulting her multiple times and impregnating her twice, police said on Wednesday.
Police have booked the girl’s mother and 20-year-old brother, who is currently 18, under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act 2012 for allegedly abetting the crime.
According to the police, the case was registered based on the complaint of a police constable, who received a call to the police station from a hospital on November 10.
Hospital officials told police that they have admitted a woman, who is four months pregnant and married to a 34-year-old man, but they suspect that she was underage.
An officer investigating the case said, “The victim was having stomach pain and her blood pressure had suddenly increased, due to which the family members took her to the hospital.”
while examining him Aadhar cardDoctors at the hospital discovered that she was born in 2006, which meant she was a minor at the time of the marriage.
However, her family members claimed that there was a printing error on the Aadhaar card and that she was born in 2000.
“Since the hospital authorities did not believe them, they reported the matter to the police station, following which a team was sent there,” the officer said.
During interrogation, police officials learned that the victim and the 34-year-old man had got married at a temple in February 2023.
The victim gave birth to a child in mid-2023, but it was stillborn, following which appropriate medicines were provided to her after consultation with a private doctor.
“We are trying to investigate and find out whether she had a stillbirth or the girl was forced to undergo an abortion at home,” an official said.
Police officials then mentioned the incident at their station house dairy following which they started investigation and wrote to the local ward office of BMC and its school authorities to find out her age.
A senior police officer said, “We obtained documents which confirmed that she was born in 2006, following which a case was registered on November 13 under relevant sections of the BNS, Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act and Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.” was recorded.”
Police arrested the 34-year-old man earlier this week and he is currently in their custody.
An investigator said, “Though we have registered a case against her mother and brother in the case, we are investigating to find out their role in the crime and try to understand the reason behind forcing the girl into child marriage.” Are doing.”