UP Constable held for raping woman who consumed poison

Rampur (UP): A woman was in critical condition after she consumed poison after her alleged rape by police Constable Amit Kumar in Patwai in Rampur district over several months, police said on Sunday.

Five police personnel have since been sent to Police Lines and a probe by the Circle Officer ordered.

Rampur CO Srikant Prajapati said: "The woman consumed poison used to kill rats on Friday, after which she was admitted at a private hospital in Moradabad. She is critical but undergoing treatment."

According to reports, the woman, a mother of two, had lodged a complaint against the Constable for her sexual exploitation at gunpoint for months.

She said she was now being pressurised to withdraw the complaint.

The woman's husband, a local shopkeeper, told police: "Ever since the Constable was booked, he and his well-wishers were pressuring us to withdraw the complaint. A woman Constable even offered my wife money to settle the case while threatening to put her behind the bars if she refused."

Rampur Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Arun Kumar Singh, meanwhile, said: "Accused Amit, posted at Patwai police station, was booked and suspended soon after police received the complaint. He was arrested on Friday night after the woman consumed poison and presented in a court on Saturday. He was sent to jail. Further investigation is underway."

The Constable is said to have first befriended the woman's husband and then started exploiting her sexually by threatening to frame her husband, said police sources.

The accused has been booked under Sections 376 (2) (whoever, being a police officer, commits rape), 452 (house trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code at the Patwai police station.