A class 10 dropout was allegedly held hostage, raped and harassed for two months by her Facebook friend in Madhya Pradesh's Guna district, police said on Wednesday, 8 January.
According to the police, the accused is also a minor.
The 17-year-old girl from Kota in Rajasthan managed to call her parents somehow on Saturday last week and narrated her plight following which the Kota police rescued the girl from Guna and produced her before a Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on Tuesday night, they said.
The CWC has ordered the girl to be sent to a woman's shelter home, its chairperson Kaniz Fatima said.
The victim told the CWC that she had befriended Deepak Aheer a few months back on Facebook and had been interacting with him on a regular basis.
In November last year, the youth asked her to come to Guna to live with him.
After she travelled to Guna, she was initially treated well by family members of the youth but later they started harassing and torturing her.
After some time, the girl was held hostage in a room and repeatedly raped by the youth. She told CWC that the youth's family members, including his mother and sister used to beat and harass her and forced her to do household chores.
The minor girl had severe injury marks on her body. Her mobile phone was also taken away from her, she told the CWC.
"The minor girl somehow managed to take her mobile phone a few days back and texted her ordeal to her father, who instantly lodged a report with the Udhyog Nagar police station here.
"A police team led by ASI Khemchand was sent to Guna to rescue the minor girl," Fatima said.
The medical examination of the girl was conducted on Wednesday.
The CWC has also directed the Udhyog Nagar police to lodge a case of abduction and rape against the youth under section 363, 366, 376 and sections of POCSO Act and to investigate the role of youth's family members in the incident.
Udhyog Nagar police station SHO Muninder Singh said a case was lodged three days ago following which a police team was sent to rescue the girl.
"Rape case against the youth under sections of IPC and POCSO Act has not been registered as the minor girl's statements under section 164 before the magistrate is yet to be recorded, he said, adding that the accused is also a minor.
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