New Delhi: In a shocking and rare case, a 26-year-old woman in Delhi has been arrested under the child protection law for allegedly raping a 17-year-old boy.
The case could probably be the first under a child protection law where a woman has been named an accused.
Incidentally, both the woman and the minor boy had accused each other of rape yesterday.
Delhi Police received a call from the woman on Monday night. She said that she had locked herself up in the bathroom of her hotel room in Vasant Kunj and alleged that she had been raped.
Upon arriving at the hotel room, the police found the boy sitting on the bed and the woman in the bathroom. The woman told the police that she came in contact with the boy on Facebook and they became friends. She said that the boy convinced her to go to a hotel which the he had booked and offered her a spiked drink. She alleged that the boy raped her after she consumed the drink and fell unconscious.
On the complaint of the woman, police initially booked the boy for raping the woman.
The boy, however, had a different story to tell.
The boy claimed that the woman repeatedly forced him to meet her. He said that he was 17-years-old and did not have enough money to book a hotel room. He alleged that the woman took him to the hotel room which she had booked, and after consuming alcohol, asked him to have sex with her.
Confused with the two contrary statements, the police took both to Vasant Kunj police station and filed cross FIRs.
The woman has been charged under Section 8 of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, which makes sexual intercourse with a child or a minor a punishable offence.
The boy has been charged with rape on the woman's complaint. Rape charge against a juvenile carries a maximum jail term of three years.
"The two FIRs have been registered and relevant sections of rape and Pocso have been filed against the woman and the boy. We suspect the incident is a case of honey-trapping for extortion and we have not made any arrests so far," an officer said.
"Initially, they accused each other of rape and we booked the boy for rape. Then the boy started talking. He told us that she had lured him to the hotel through Facebook interactions despite the boy making it clear that he was a minor," said a police officer.
"The woman told the minor on Facebook that she is a divorcee and just wanted to have a physical relationship with him, to which the boy had replied that he is a minor. In spite of that, she wanted to meet him," the officer said.
Police said that the Facebook chats between the two indicated that she had taken the lead in getting them to the hotel room. Investigations revealed that the woman paid for the room.
"CCTV footage of the hotel shows the woman entering the room with the boy. She was not in a state of distress. We are questioning the hotel staff."
