Raipur: Juvenile rapes minor sisters, cops take 10 days to file FIR

RAIPUR: The father of two raped minors, aged 8 and 5, had to run from pillar to post for 10 days to get an FIR lodged when the law says police must register a zero FIR the moment someone arrives with a complaint of sexual crime, regardless of the place of occurrence.
The two sisters were raped by a 14-year-old boy on May 22 but it wasn’t until Friday that their family could file an FIR, that too after the intervention of Raipur senior SP Arif Sheikh.The accused fled during this delay and is yet to be traced.
The family alleges that the inspector in charge of the local police station threatened to file a case against them if their complaint against the juvenile “turns out to be untrue”.
According to the girls’ complaint they were alone at home on May 22 when the juvenile, who is a distant relative, forced himself on them. The family says he is a substance abuser. He first raped the elder girl and then turned on the five-year-old, says the complaint.
When the girls informed their parents, they approached police, but were stunned to be turned away. Every time they tried to file a complaint, the officer in charge allegedly rejected it, leading them to suspect him of trying to suppress the crime.
Helpless, the family wrote to collector Basva Raju, who passed it to SSP Arif Sheikh. He immediately ordered the local cops to register an FIR. When the top brass started digging into it, locals spoke of a few more cases where complaints of molestation were allegedly ignored.
Raipur additional SP (rural) Tarkeshwar Patel said that an FIR was lodged against the juvenile under POCSO Act and police teams are out looking for him. Police are also investigating complaints that a friend of the accused was a habitual molester. Patel said they are patrolling the area regularly.