5 of family in UP charged with rape & torture of woman from Nepal

PILIBHIT: UP police charged five members of a family -- three brothers, their mother and maternal uncle -- for allegedly raping and torturing a woman from Nepal who was brought to Pilibhit about 13 years ago "on the pretext of a decent job in Delhi". In her complaint, the woman, now 36, alleged that she was confined to their home most of the time with "threats of rape, marriage and forced conversion".

SHO of Puranpur, Rajeev Sharma, said on Tuesday that the five accused were charged under BNS sections 64 (rape), 352 (intentional insult), 351 (3) (criminal intimidation), 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt) and 76 (use of criminal force to a woman to disrobe her) following the woman's complaint. "We are investigating the matter and trying to collect the woman's past details from Nepal," he added.

The complainant, in the FIR, stated that she was working in a private firm in Dhangarhi, Nepal, when Amzad Khan, one of the three accused brothers, contacted her with a "job offer". He used to provide travel and tour services to Indian tourists.

Her ordeal, she said, began when Amzad, who allegedly introduced himself as "Ajay" to her, brought her from Nepal to the house of his brother-in-law, Wahid Khan, at a village in Pilibhit where, after her stay for a few days, he raped her. When she protested, he threatened her with a pistol. "I narrated my ordeal to Amzad's sister the next day but to my shock, she sided with her brother. Amzad then warned me to stay mum over my sexual harassment," she said.

Following this, she was allegedly raped by Amzad several times. Here, she also came to know his real name. She then pleaded with them to allow her to return to Nepal, but they continued with their threats and kept her in confinement, she alleged.

Amzad's family then forced her to marry him. "I was compelled to sign documents for court marriage. Later, Amzad's elder brother, Firoz Khan, forced himself on me," she said, adding that "Amzad's younger brother, Changez Khan, also sexually exploited me."

Notably, the woman had first narrated her ordeal publicly on September 8 while sharing a stage with some right-wing protesters at Puranpur tehsil. The protesters had then wanted to present her as an "example of love jihad in UP".


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