2 rick drivers in Thane arrested for rape and molestation of minors

THANE: In two separate incidents on Sunday, two minors were attacked by rickshaw drivers in Thane. While a 15-year-old girl was gruesomely raped, the other minor was molested and had to jump out of the rickshaw to save herself.
On Sunday afternoon, the 15-year-old, who was studying for her Class 10 exams, left her tuition class at around 3 pm and was walking home on the Ambernath-Badlapur highway. A rickshaw driver offered her a lift, saying he would drop her at the next bus stop. Then, citing low CNG in his rickshaw, he took her to the Ambernath CNG pump. Under the pretext of needing to make a U-turn, he drove her towards the Ambernath dumping ground where he raped her.
“The girl told us that the rickshaw driver beat her up, raped her forcefully and left her at the dumping ground,” said a police officer. “She was in shock and pain. Frightened and unsure of what to do, she thought of asking for help but then walked home alone.”
The minor’s family members took her to hospital and then to the police station. The Ambernath Shivaji Nagar police, late that night, registered a rape and kidnapping case under the POCSO sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. A senior police officer said that a team immediately launched a search, and with the help of CCTV footage of nearby areas, nabbed the accused. He was produced in court, which granted the police custody up to September 13.
In the other incident in Kalyan, a rickshaw driver molested a minor student while she was headed home in his vehicle after her tuition class. To escape him, she jumped from the moving rickshaw, but was chased and verbally abused by the driver. She informed her parents, who filed a complaint with the police. The driver was subsequently arrested.