A ‘good and bad touch’ interaction conducted by a city NGO recently revealed the tale of two sisters, aged 17 and 15, being raped since 2017 by their distant cousin. The information was swiftly passed on to the Sewree police, who have arrested the 22-year-old accused.
The matter surfaced during an interaction between the NGO and girls from a city slum. The organisation routinely conducts such interactions with young girls and women from the area. The social workers told the group of girls that they too are women and can be considered friends, so they can open up to them and talk about anything, including any distress in their lives.
The sisters, who were attending the session for the first time, recounted their horrific experience since 2017, when they were 12 and 10 years old. They told the NGO workers that the man threatened them of making the information public which would consequently bring disrepute and shame to them and their parents. Scared of the consequences, the girls suffered for five years before finally breaking down before amiable strangers.
After hearing their experiences, the NGO workers informed the victims’ parents, who approached the police station on August 21.
While recording their statements, the police found out that the accused, Jahangir Ansari, had also tried to rape and assault both the girls on August 16. He was immediately traced and arrested.
A case has been registered under sections 376 (rape), 354 (assault or criminal force, with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty), and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. He has also been booked under the relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
