Panchayat orders minor rape victim to wed accused's son

Jaipur: A caste council in Rajasthan has ordered the parents of a six-year-old rape victim to get her married to the eight-year-old son of the man accused of the rape, police said Thursday. The incident occurred at Keshavpura in Kota, 250 km from Jaipur. The 40-year-old man, identified as Kailash, raped the girl who lives in his neighbourhood about a fortnight ago, police said. [caption id=“attachment_1087013” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] “Kailash locked her in a room and raped her. Instead of registering a police complaint, elders belonging to the girl’s caste called a panchayat (village council) meeting,” a police official said. The panchayat ordered the girl’s parents to get her married to Kailash’s minor son. However, the girl’s parents as well as Kailash refused to accept the panchayat’s decision. And even as negotiations were going on between the girls’ parents and the accused, Kailash again raped the girl Wednesday, police said. Some social activists came to know about Wednesday’s rape and brought the girl and her parents to Mahaveer Nagar police station in Kota and filed a complaint. Kailash was arrested, and an investigation launched into the allegations against the panchayat members, said circle officer (city) Banwari Lal Meena. IANS