'Wanted' notice issued against UP cop in rape case

A 'wanted' notice has been issued by the Moradabad police to arrest a police constable who was booked in December last year, for allegedly sexually assaulting a 26-year-old rape survivor for nearly a year.

An arrest application has been sent to the Subhash Nagar Police station in Bareilly which is his native district.

The accused constable is married and has a child. He was recently transferred to Ballia district.

An FIR was filed in Moradabad against the 31-year-old constable after the survivor complained that the accused had sexually assaulted her for the past two years, and threatened to kill her if she disclosed the matter to anyone.

The survivor, a paramedic, in her complaint, had said that the constable first raped her at gunpoint when he visited her home two years ago on the pretext of questioning her in connection with a complaint under IPC sections of rape and forceful conversation against another man in 2019.

According to the police complaint, the survivor had earlier fallen for a man who introduced himself under a pseudonym and had allegedly raped her on the pretext of marriage.

After the woman came to know of his real identity, she lodged an FIR and stated that he was forcing her to convert.

During the investigation, the accused constable approached her and said he could help her.

The woman claimed that she tried to approach the authorities concerned but the accused convinced her to not lodge any complaint by promising to marry her. She then started living with him until she came to know that the constable was married and had a five-year-old child in Bareilly.

When she confronted him, he threatened her with dire consequences if she told the matter to anyone.

An FIR under IPC sections 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 504 (intentional insult) was registered against the accused constable, and the information was shared with the authorities where he was then deployed.

The accused police constable has been absconding since then.

R.P. Singh, station officer, Civil Lines police station, Moradabad, said, 'The matter came to the fore in December last year. Police are making every possible attempt to nab the accused. His case is also listed for hearing in the Allahabad high court.'