Two employees of the Indian Coast Guard have been arrested for allegedly raping their colleague’s 15-year-old daughter in Mumbai, a police official said on Friday. The incident took place on October 17 of last year in the house of one of the two accused in a northern suburb of the city. The girl is a Class 10 student, while the accused Coast Guard employees are aged 30 and 23, the official said.
On the day of the alleged sexual assault, the teenager had returned from her coaching class and was alone in their home as her mother, younger sister and brothers had gone to attend a function and her father was on night duty. The 30-year-old accused, who lived on the same housing premises, allegedly knocked on her door and told the teenager that his wife had called her to their house for some work. The minor did not find anything suspicious as both families knew each other quite well and were on excellent terms. When the girl entered the flat of the accused, a second person who was already waiting inside gagged her and dragged the teenager to the bedroom. The duo then allegedly raped the girl, the official said.
Later, both men threatened to kill the minor and her father if she revealed the sexual assault to anyone, the official said. The 30-year-old accused also used to knock on her door whenever she was alone, the official said.
Unable to bear the trauma, the girl slipped into depression and required medical care. In December 2023, more than two months after she was sexually assaulted, she opened up in front of her mother and narrated her ordeal. The girl’s mother informed her husband, who filed an internal complaint with the Indian Coast Guard. On March 8, the girl wrote to senior Coast Guard officials, who helped her file a police complaint, leading to the arrest of the two accused. The two men have been booked for “gang rape on woman under sixteen years of age” under Indian Penal Code section 376DA and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Both have been remanded in police custody, the official added.
