15-year-old gives birth in Gurugram, police probe rape by man she met on Instagram

A 15-year-old girl delivered a baby at a hospital in Gurugram ’s Sohna after she was allegedly raped by a 22-year-old man she befriended on Instagram, police said on Saturday.

The incident came to light when the girl complained of severe abdominal pain and was rushed to a sub-divisional hospital in Sohna. Doctors informed her parents that she was pregnant and experiencing labour pain, police said.

Neither the girl nor her parents were aware of the pregnancy, as there had been hardly any visible physical changes, a senior police official said.

Hospital authorities alerted the police, following which a team of investigators reached the hospital and recorded statements from the girl, her parents and the doctors.

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“During the counselling, the victim told that she had befriended a man on Instagram almost a one and half years back. He lured her to meet her at various places and had sexually assaulted her. out of fear and unaware of the consequences, she never told anything to her parents,” the officer said.

Investigators said the suspect stopped communicating with the girl, following which she left home on August 1. Her parents searched for her at several locations but were unable to trace her and did not inform the police. She returned on Tuesday after falling ill, following which her parents rushed her to the hospital.

Based on the girl’s statement, an FIR was registered against the suspect under Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences ( POCSO ) Act at City Sohna police station on Thursday.

Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said the police had traced the suspect’s identity.

“He hails from Nuh and will be arrested soon. The victim was stable but still at hospital for treatment. The condition of the boy child is also stable and both of them are under observation of the doctors,” he said.

Turan said that, with the consent of the girl’s parents, the infant would be handed over to an NGO for adoption after following all legal procedures.

Debashish Karmakar is a principal correspondent with the Hindustan Times, Gurugram bureau. He has a vast journalistic experience of almost 14 years of covering crime, court, power, transport, administration, weather and other beats while working across various organisations. He has been covering Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal and other districts of southern Haryana for more than four and a half years. He has produced several breaking and exclusive stories while reporting from the ground where he maintains a strong presence on a daily basis. He writes news articles which are hard-hitting and accurate. With his strong bureaucratic sources, he frequently writes stories to expose the failure of the system forcing authorities to take necessary course-corrective steps. Besides crime, important convictions and court orders, he also writes on human-angle stories, on power issues and challenges faced by the residents on a daily basis in Gurugram and neighbouring areas.