Rapes of four minors reported in a day in UP

Lucknow, April 23 (IANS) At least four minors have been reported raped in various parts of Uttar Pradesh in a single day, police said Tuesday.

As the national spotlight swivels to cases of child sexual abuse following the brutal rape of a five-year-old in New Delhi, prompting massive protests, Uttar Pradesh reported four cases Monday -- two from Pratapgarh district, one from Siddharthanagar district and another from Sitapur district.

In the first case in Pratapgarh, a madrassa teacher and his accomplice were arrested for raping a 15-year-old student for two days. They were arrested after the girl's father filed a complaint with the local police.

In the second case, another teacher was arrested in the district for allegedly raping his 11-year-old relative.

On Monday evening, a minor girl was found dumped in the Pathra area of Siddharthanagar district. She later told police that two youths raped her in Aligarh town for three days.

In Sitapur district, a Dalit minor girl was abducted, repeatedly raped at gunpoint and then dumped in a village. Based on a complaint by the girl's father, her atatcker has been arrested, a police official told IANS.

The day earlier, on Sunday, three motorcycle-borne youths raped a girl in Gadhmukteshwar town of Ghaziabad district, adjoining the national capital, while she was returning from a friend's house. The attackers are yet to be arrested.

Senior police officers admitted that cases of rape were continuing unabated in the state.

"Sadly, rape cases are happening and the society must take stock of the direction we all are heading in," a senior police official said.

He added that police had stepped up patrolling during night to check such crimes.

To take a stock of the law and order situation, the state's new director general of police, Devraj Nagar, has called a meeting of all senior police officers in the state capital Lucknow April 27.