Man arrested after daughter accuses him of rape

The police in Maharashtra's Jalna district has arrested a man for allegedly raping his 16-year-old daughter.

The girl had alleged that her father raped her repeatedly. She had also staged a protest at Azad Maidan in Mumbai seeking justice.

She had confided in mother and twoaunts about her plight, but they asked her to keep her mouth shut and not to tarnish the family's reputation, she said.

Further, local journalist made sexual advances towards her on the pretext of helping her, she claimed.

Jalna Superintendent of Police S Chaitanya said the girl had approached district police six months ago, and was sent to the Child Welfare Committee, but she refused to lodge a formal complaint against her father.

The committee then handed her over to her maternal uncle, but the girl alleged that she was kept under confinement and tortured by her aunt.

On December 9 she escaped from her uncle's house in Partur and reached Mumbai.

She stood near Azad Maidan holding a placard saying "I want justice".

A woman took her to the nearby Azad Maidan police station. The police registered a case and transferred it to the Partur police station.

"On the basis of the complaint, we arrested the father and the journalist and are conducting further probe," Chaitanya said.