Uttar Pradesh: Rape accused ‘hangs self’ in police lock-up in Hamirpur

JHANSI/KANPUR: A 22-year-old man arrested on charge of raping a minor girl, allegedly committed suicide inside the lock-up of a police station in Hamirpur district on the night of July 27. The accused was said to be in police custody for around a week. SP Hamirpur has suspended a sub-inspector and two constables and ordered an enquiry into the incident.
The incident has been reported from Moudaha police station of Hamirpur district.The accused, Sanjay of Mahoba district, was arrested for raping a minor. As per reports, Sanjay used to often visit a village under Modaha police station where his sister had got married.
In the village, he had befriended a minor girl with whom he had eloped on April 6. “A complaint in this regard was made by the girl’s family members at Khanna Kotwali. Acting on the complaint, the Kotwali police recovered the girl and arrested Sanjay from Noida on July 23,” police sources said and added, “No action could be taken due to the closure of court on July 24 and 25. After this, the girl was produced in the court on Tuesday (July 27) and her statement was recorded.”
Along with this, the police booked Sanjay under the IPC sections of kidnapping and rape, besides POCSO Act, and handed over the girl to her family members and put the accused in the lock-up, said police.
“At around 1 O’clock in the night, Sanjay ended his life by hanging himself from the lock-up grille. He used his shirt to hang himself. Later, when the policemen on duty spotted Sanjay hanging, they brought him down and rushed him to the community health centre in Maudaha, where doctors referred him to the district hospital after preliminary treatment. The police tried to rush him to the district hospital, but he died on the way,” police added further.
On coming to know about the incident, senior police officials including SP Hamirpur KK Dixit rushed to the police station. He asked additional SP Anup Kumar to investigate the matter.
The SP later suspended SI Devendra Kumar along with constables Anuj Kumar and Anup Kumar for negligence in duty.
The body has been sent for postmortem.
On why the accused was kept in the police lock-up for a long period, SP Hamirpur said: “I have ordered a detailed enquiry into the incident. Based on its outcome, further action will be taken.”
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)