Kanpur: Muslim cleric rapes 16-year-old girl inside madrassa, arrested

A Muslim cleric on Sunday was arrested for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl inside the premises of a madrassa in Kanpur. "Today afternoon we have received the information that a female student of madrassa had accused a Muslim cleric of rape," RK Chaturvedi, Circle Officer, Govindnagar, told news agency ANI.

"The cleric is a teacher at the madrassa. Based on her complaint, a case was registered under Sections 376, 506 of IPC and POSCO Act. The victim has been sent for medical," he added.

The incident came amid nation-wide outrage over the brutal murder of a three-year-old in Aligarh over some financial dispute with her father. The main accused, Zahid, has been arrested by the police.

Earlier, a 12-year-old girl was allegedly raped by six men in Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh. According to the police, the incident took place in a village in the Ahirouli Bazar police station area on Friday evening.

Of the six men, four have been arrested, while efforts are on to nab the rest two. "A case against six accused persons has been registered under various sections of IPC, including section 376 (rape), POCSO Act and SC/ST Act," Superintendent of Police (SP) R N Mishra said. "The girl has been sent for medical test," the SP said.

According to reports, the accused had a dispute with the girl's family over the construction of drainage channel on Friday morning. In the evening, they dragged the girl in front of the family and raped her and also thrashed the family members when they resisted.

(With PTI inputs)