16-yr-old girl raped by head constable in Kurukshetra police station

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a Haryana Police head constable at a mitra kaksh (friend room), meant for listening to the grievances of people and to lodge complaints, in the Babain police station of Kurukshetra district.
Head constable Shyam Lal, 51,  has been arrested and sent to two-day remand after the victim lodged the complaint.
Speaking to The Statesman, Superintendent of Police (SP),  Kurukshetra, Surinder Singh Bhoria said after the medical examination of the girl, forensic evidence was being gathered in the case.
“The accused head constable has been arrested and terminated from service under the rules. The case has been handed over to the Shahabad DSP for further investigation,” he said. Bhoria said the victim has named only the head constable in her complaint and involvement of no other police station staff is being investigated.
Sources said the victim had come to the Babain police station to get her statement recorded in connection with a missing case registered by her family in May. This was after she left her parents’ house to live with her maternal aunt.
An Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) dealing with the case had called the victim to the Babain police station for recording her statement in the case. The statement could not be recorded due to the unavailability of the ASI, so the victim met head constable Shyam Lal who allegedly took her to the mitra kaksh on the pretext of recording the statement and raped her.
He allegedly threatened to get her in trouble in the missing case filed by her family if she told anyone about the rape. The kin of the victim alleged the policeman later also offered money to her family and threatened them not to raise the matter.
A police mitra kaksh is used by the members of the Community Liaison Group and the police personnel without uniform to listen to the grievances of people and facilitate people in lodging their complaints.