16-Year-Old Raped Multiple Times By Neighbor While Family Left Town For Cancer Treatment

A 16-year-old girl in India allegedly became pregnant after being repeatedly raped by her neighbor while the girl’s family was out of town for cancer treatment.

The sexual assault started in April and continued for six months with no one noticing. The heinous crime occurred in Kota, a city in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan.

According to the girl’s parents, 27-year-old Chandrashakhar "Chandu" Sharma allegedly raped the girl multiple times when they were in the city of Jaipur to seek cancer treatment for the mother.

"The 16-year-old survivor, a IX Class student, had stated in the report that her mother was suffering from cancer and had left for Jaipur for cancer treatment with her brother on April 12 this year," officer Rameshwar Prasad with the Khatoli police station said to Times of India.

The parents filed a complaint against Sharma Monday after they discovered the girl was seven months pregnant. On Sunday, the parents had taken the girl to a local hospital after she complained about suffering from abdominal pain. There the doctors discovered that the minor was pregnant.

After the complaint was filed, Sharma fled from the city. Cops formed a special team under the supervision of Assistant Superintendent of Police Praveen Jain to apprehend the suspect. Sharma was nabbed Monday night.

The accused Sharma with appropriate sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Times Now news reported.

Since the onset of the pandemic, incidents of sexual assault and rape committed against children have increased, the Times Of India reported. Sexual offenses including child rape registered under the POSCO Act rose to 38.8 percent in 2020 compared to 35.5 percent in 2019, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

According to the NCRB report, the victim knew the accused person in 96 percent of the sexual assault cases registered under POSCO.

In July, a 14-year-old gave birth to a baby inside a police station while filing a case against her alleged rapist. After arriving at the police station, the girl developed labor pains and was helped by female officers and local women to birth the baby.