Karnataka Cleric Arrested For Inciting Brother To Rape Minor Sister, Raping Her On Pretext Of Exorcism

The cleric visited the house of the girl and proposed to treat demonic possession. Later, he persuaded the girl's brother to have sex to cure her, saving her from the devil.

Karnataka police arrested a cleric for allegedly raping a minor in an excuse of treating her demonic possession. ( Image Source :Getty images )

A cleric in the Chitradurga district of Karnataka has been arrested for allegedly raping a minor in an excuse of treating her demonic possession. The cleric belongs to Uttar Pradesh and was in practice at a local mosque where the girl had been attending Quranic studies for three years.

As per the police report, the cleric visited the house of the girl and proposed to treat her. He then persuaded the girl's brother that having sex with her would cure her of being possessed by the devil. He then encouraged the brother to molest the girl while recording the incident on camera. Later, the girl was raped by the cleric himself.

According to India Today, Chitradurga SP Dharmender Kumar Meena highlighted that the brother and the cleric were both detained and charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (Pocso) Act.

The sexual assault is said to have continued for six to seven months, with the brother and the cleric carrying out the crimes once every week. When the girl informed her mother about her stomach ache and was admitted to the hospital, the situation became apparent.

The mother of the victim made a complaint at the women's police station, and a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the accused.

Cleric Arrested In Ghaziabad For Raping His Student

In a similar incident, The police arrested a cleric in UP's Ghaziabad on May 12 for allegedly raping a woman, his student. The news came to light when the alleged video went viral on social media.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rural) Vivek Chandra Yadav said, "The incident of rape occurred two years ago when the woman had attended some classes of the cleric named Zabbar. He had recorded some videos of the incident and was forcing the survivor to establish a relationship with him, or else he would leak the video."

"Based on the complaint, we have lodged an FIR under section 376 (rape) and criminal intimidation (506) of the IPC against Zabbar and he has been arrested," said the officer, PTI reported.

However, the woman's family notified the police about the video a few days ago after it went viral on social media.