Man arrested in UP for raping girl, impregnating her

Sonbhadra (UP), Mar 11 (PTI) A 21-year-old man was arrested here for allegedly raping a minor girl, following a Zero FIR transferred from Surat, Gujarat, police said on Tuesday.

Anpara Inspector-in-charge Shiv Pratap Verma, said Tushar Das Gupta, a resident of Bajrang Nagar in Anpara, allegedly raped the girl in November 2023.

"The victim's family did not file a complaint at the time, which led her to leave home and take up domestic work in a household under the Vesu Police Station limits in Surat," Verma said.

In Surat, the girl became pregnant. One day, falling ill, she took some medicine, which resulted in her delivering a stillborn baby in the bathroom. In a panic, she threw the newborn out of the bathroom window, Verma added.

When the Vesu police in Surat were informed about the incident, they initiated an investigation and called the girl's mother to Surat. A Zero FIR was registered and transferred to Anpara Police Station in Sonbhadra, where the alleged crime had taken place.

In light of the testimonies, Sonbhadra Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar Meena directed immediate action against Gupta, who was arrested on Tuesday and booked under sections of rape along and the POCSO Act.

A 'Zero FIR' is an FIR that can be registered at any police station, regardless of jurisdiction, and later transferred to the relevant station for investigation.

The provision was introduced in the Indian Police system after the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, which was enacted in response to the 2012 Nirbhaya case. PTI COR KIS VN VN