Girl, 13, alleges she was raped by a police officer when she went to report a gang rape in India
The latest data shows nearly 32,000 rapes or attempted rapes were reported in India in 2020. (Reuters: Francis Mascarenhas/File)
A 13-year-old girl in India has alleged she was raped by a senior police officer in a rural police station in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh when she went to report a gang rape, local police say.
The victim-survivor, from the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system, alleged her ordeal began when four young men took her to the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh on April 22 and raped her over four days, NDTV news channel reported.
Its report — referencing a statement from the girl's father that was given to police — said the men then brought his daughter back to her village in the Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh on April 26 and fled.
When she went to the local police station the following day to give her statement about the gang rape, the police officer in charge of the station allegedly raped her before handing her over to the Childline charity, multiple local media sites reported.
Lalitpur district police chief Nikhil Pathak said the charity then brought the girl to his office and she told him what happened.
"After I was informed of it, I ensured that a case was filed," he told reporters this week.
Lalitpur police said the police officer had been arrested and charged with rape under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
They said the four men accused of gang raping the teenager have also been arrested.
Police are also investigating the alleged involvement of a woman in the alleged police station rape.
Local media reported the woman is the teenager's aunt, and was present during the police station rape, but this has not been confirmed by police.
Officers on duty at the time of the police station rape have been suspended, local media reported.
The alleged rapes have prompted outrage on social media, including from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a senior leader of the main opposition Congress party.
"If police stations are not safe for women, then where will they go with their complaints?" she tweeted.
The National Human Rights Commission issued a statement in response to media reports on the case.
"The commission has observed that the contents of the media report, if true, amount to human rights violation of the victim," the statement said.
"Accordingly, it has issued notices to the chief secretary and the director-general of police … calling for a report within four weeks."
Protests erupted over the death of a 23-year-old student who was raped and murdered in New Delhi in 2012. (AP: Rafiq Maqbool/File)
India adopted the death penalty in 2018 as a punishment for the rape of girls younger than 12, in response to public pressure after a spate of assaults on children.
That followed the gang rape and murder of a young woman in a moving bus in the capital in 2012 that caused national uproar and brought new laws, although the number of assaults on women has stayed high.
Nearly 32,000 rapes or attempted rapes were reported in India in 2020, the government's most recent crime data shows.
Journalist — and the founder of news outlet Mojo Story — Barkha Dutt speaks to ABC's The World about marital rape.
Reuters/ABC