Mumbai crime: 2 held for kidnap, rape of underage girlfriends

Mumbai crime, kidnapping and rape, two arrested, underage girlfriends, Ramjane Yadav, Avval Sheikh, fake marriage proposals, 14-year-old girls missing, rape survivors, Goregaon, sex crimes, minors raped, sexual assault, Arnala beach, Virar, Mumbai

Two youths have been arrested for the alleged abduction and rape of two 14-year-olds they were having an affair with. The duo was found by Oshiwara police on November 5, holed up with the teenage schoolgirls in a lodge at Arnala beach at Virar, four days after the girls were reported missing from their homes in Goregaon.

The police discovered that the accused had made false promises of marriage to persuade the girls to elope with them. The accused have been identified as Ramjane Yadav (20) and Avval Sheikh (19), both residents of Goregaon. The Oshiwara police kicked into action after the girls' parents registered missing person's complaints on November 1.

According to the police officials, "Both girls were having affairs with the accused. Last Saturday, the accused asked the girls to meet them at a garden in Goregaon. Later, both girls went to Arnala with them, carrying only a few rupees with them. The accused had promised them that they would be married soon."

But, when the girls didn't return home that evening, their parents registered a complaint, and named the boyfriends as suspects, as they had gone missing as well. Cops searched for them for two days, but couldn't find them. They finally got a tip-off that the girls were living in with the accused in a lodge at Arnala beach for the past five days.

Senior Inspector Subhash Vele, from Oshiwara police station, said, "We arrested the accused after medical reports of both the girls confirmed sexual relations." The accused were charged under sections 363 (kidnap) and 376 (rape) of the IPC, as well as under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.