Teen raped by Instagram friend in Lucknow

A 15-year-old girl was raped inside the high-security Lohia Park here by a man whom she befriended on a social networking site Instagram.

The girl, a student of class 7, has been admitted to Jhalkari Bai hospital after her condition deteriorated.

The accused, Vidya Sagar Kushwaha, 20, was arrested from Kanpur, late on Tuesday night.

Police have registered an FIR and are waiting for the survivor to mentally stabilise to be able record her statement.

The police traced his location using electronic surveillance. He works in a textile factory in Gujarat while his family lives in Kanpur.

In the FIR lodged with the Gomti Nagar police station, the victim's father said that his daughter met the accused on a social networking site and became friends.

The man called her and asked her to meet him at Lohia Park.

"When my daughter reached the park, the accused took her to an isolated place, raped her and left her in a critical state. She somehow managed to reach home and was sitting in a corner in a state of shock, when her mother enquired about the reason. She narrated her ordeal and the mother found out that she was bleeding," he added.

The family then informed the police and took the girl to the Civil Hospital from where she was referred to the Jhalkari Bai hospital. The family also provided the phone number to the police, from which the accused had called up the survivor.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, East Zone, Prachi Singh said an FIR under the charges of rape and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has been lodged.

She said, "The girl's father is a cart puller while her mother works as domestic help. The teenage girl left home to meet the accused without informing her parents about it."

Chief Medical Superintendent, Jhalkari Bai Hospital, Ranjana Khare said that the minor is under observation. "Her physical condition has stabilised, but she is still in a state of mental shock," she said.

This is the third case of rape in the state capital in the past three days.

Earlier on Saturday night, a 16-year-old school girl was raped by two persons, including an auto-rickshaw driver. On Monday, police arrested the 21-year-old auto-rickshaw driver, Aakash Tiwari. The co-accused is still at large.

On Sunday, a 52-year-old woman filed a complaint alleging that three staff members of an ashram raped her on October 4 under the influence of a narcotic substance. Investigation into the case is underway.