Army jawan arrested for raping minor on train

Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel on Tuesday arrested Army jawan Mandreesh Tripathi on charges of raping a minor girl on board the Howrah-Amritsar Express on Sunday.

The railway police were looking for two other jawans who are also accused of the crime after forcing the 16-year-old to consume alcohol.

The Army was cooperating with the railway authorities in the manhunt, sources said.
The girl who hails from Kolkata and is the daughter of a state government official, said by mistake she boarded the compartment reserved for the Army personnel at Howrah station on Sunday.

Soon after, she was forced to drink alcohol and gang-raped inside the toilet. The girl admitted to have run away from home the reason for which has been kept under wraps.

Arjun Tiwari, GRP Officer-in-Charge at Madhupur, Jharkhand, told reporters that Tripathi was arrested after receiving the girl’s complaint.

Officials said the girl’s parents lodged a missing report with Childline, an NGO that works with children. After the NGO’s Howrah wing shared the girl’s photograph on its group messaging service on WhatsApp, its Madhupur counterpart alerted the local GRP. The GRP discovered the injured girl in an unconscious state in the Army compartment.
 GRP Inspector Fazal Ahmad told reporters that they searched the train after it reached Madhupur around 8.30 pm on Monday.

“She was lying on a berth with a jawan trying to feed her even though she was barely conscious,” he said.

While the GRP officials initially thought she was eloping with Tripathi but after later she revealed her experience.

“The rape must have taken place soon after the train left Howrah as there was no one else in the coach. When we raided, there were around a dozen others but no one had seen or heard anything. Most probably they boarded the train later on,” Ahmad said.
Tripathi was travelling to his home at Sultanpur in UP while the two others were headed for Saharanpur, also in UP.

Tripathi confessed
After initially refuting the allegation, Tripathi confessed when the girl gained consciousness and identified him.

 While he was handed over to Howrah GRP on Tuesday, the police were awaiting the girl’s medical report to build the case.

Although there has been no official statement from the Army’s Eastern Command headquarters in Kolkata where the jawans were posted, sources said the Army has assured the railway authorities of total cooperation.

“We’re sharing whatever information we have to help catch them. They will face whatever action is taken as per law,” an Army official said.
DH News Service