Rajasthan Government Staff Allegedly Rapes Minor After Free Phone Promise

Jaipur:

A 35-year-old man, a cashier at Rajasthan's Public Health Engineering Department, allegedly raped a 17-year-old girl on Thursday after luring her away to a room on the pretext of giving her a mobile phone for free under a state government scheme.

The relatives of the survivor have accused the man, a cashier at the water supply department, of raping the girl, a student, after taking her in a car on the pretext of getting her a mobile phone for free. Enraged locals later caught the cashier and tied him to a pole in front of the main gate of the water supply department, and thrashed him. A video of the assault on the accused has going viral on social media.

The locals, however, released him after beating him up. The accused was not handed over to the police. He fled from the spot.

The girl has registered a case of rape against the accused cashier at the Todabhim police station in Karauli district of the state. The accused government employee has been identified as Sunil Kumar Jangid, and a case under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and other relevant sections of the IPC has been filed against him.

Police said the girl was alone at her home on August 10 around 11 am, as her mother had gone out to work as a daily-wage worker, and her father was in Jaipur.

Sunil Kumar Jangid, a resident of Kunsay village in Gangapur City tehsil of Sawai Madhopur District, reached her house and told the minor that the state government was giving out mobile phones free of cost and her number has appeared in the scheme. He then asked her to get in her car to go and get the phone, as it would soon run out.

According to the police complaint, the girl said she will speak to her mother, to which he said that he will later come back and speak to the mother. Sunil Kumar Jangid then took the minor in his vehicle to a room towards Todabhim and allegedly raped her. He then left the victim on the way to Idgah, the complaint said.

The victim told the police that when she started screaming, the accused attacked her with a knife on her arms. She alleges that she repeatedly told him to let her go, but he did not relent and raped her by threatening her with a knife. She then reached home and narrated the incident to her mother. When the father returned home in the evening, the survivor went to the police station and filed a complaint.

The case is being investigated by the police, who are looking for the accused. Police have conducted a medical examination of the survivor.

The accused is posted as a senior assistant to an executive engineer in the department and has been suspended from his post with immediate effect after the incident came to light.