Poverty-stricken rape victim 'lured' to convert: Police

Police officials on Tuesday admitted that the Meerut gang-rape victim was ‘very poor’ and had been ‘lured’ into conversion.

The officials said the victim had been offered ‘good salary’ and other facilities if she converted. 

They also said she had undergone a surgery at a hospital in Muzaffarnagar.“The victim had been operated upon for tubal pregnancy (a complication of pregnancy in which the embryo implants outside the uterine cavity).

Meerut Deputy Inspector General of Police K Satyanarayana said the victim had taught Hindi and English at a madrasa (Islamic school) in her village.

“She was offered a good salary and other privileges provided she converted. She agreed and then she was taken to a madrasa in Hapur and from there to Muzaffarnagar,” he said.

The official said a cleric at the madrasa took advantage of her poverty and lured her to convert. 

The victim, who had claimed that she had been kidnapped, managed to escape from her captors and called up her parents and informed them she had been forced to convert.

Police were trying to ascertain if some more girls had been kept at the madrasa in Muzaffarnagar as claimed by the victim. 

The officials admitted that it was not an easy task to raid a madrasa particularly when the situation was volatile. 

Officials did not rule out the possibility of human trafficking.

The victim had claimed that the girls kept at the madrasa were to be sent to the Gulf countries. It was clear if raids had been conducted to ascertain the truth.

The village pradhan and a woman cleric were among the main accused in the matter.

The victim told her parents that she was kept at a madrasa in Muzaffarnagar, where there were many other girls like her.