Man Out On Bail Rapes Same Victim At Knife Point, Pressures Her To Withdraw Case

A man who was released on bail following his arrest in connection with a rape case in 2020 has sexually assaulted the same victim at knifepoint and pressured her to withdraw the case.

The incident, which took place in the Jabalpur district in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, came to light when the victim approached authorities to file a complaint. The victim, whose identity was not revealed, alleged that the accused, identified as Vivek Patel, and his friend broke into her house nearly a month ago and raped her, Times Now News reported.

An officer told the outlet that the accused was nabbed in 2020 for raping the same girl, who was a minor at the time. However, the man was released on bail in 2021. The victim is now 19 years old, while the age of the accused was not disclosed by the authorities.

Asif Iqbal, the person in charge of the police station, said the accused and his friend filmed last month's sexual abuse and threatened to upload the video on social media if the victim refused to withdraw the case.

"According to the complainant, accused Vivek Patel, who had previously raped her, did the same act with his companion," Iqbal said, according to the outlet. "According to her complaint, the accused raped her at knifepoint with his friend approximately a month ago by forcibly breaching her residence. The accused and a friend filmed the act and then threatened to make the video go public on social media if the prior complaint she filed was not dropped."

Police registered a case of gang rape Monday and have initiated a manhunt to nab the suspects, First Post reported.

In a similar incident in India, a man who was out on bail for raping a woman in 2020 was arrested again in June 2021 after he fatally stabbed the victim. The accused, identified as Netram, constantly threatened the victim to withdraw her complaint ever since his release, but the woman didn't respond to him. He broke into the woman's house on the night of the incident and stabbed her to death while she was asleep. He also injured the victim's younger sister who reportedly tried to protect the woman from the attacker.