17-year-old raped by man she met on social media

Pune, Oct 28: A 17-year-old girl from Thane was raped by a 21-year-old Pune man she befriended on a social networking website. According to police, the man, who promised to marry her, also forced her to undergo an abortion after she became pregnant.

An officer from the Bharati Vidyapeeth police station said that the suspect, a resident of Dhayari, works with a private firm after completing his graduation. He met the girl on a social networking site in January this year. "The girl accepted his friendship request on the site and they would often chat online. In one of these chats, he promised to marry her and asked her to come to Pune to meet him," the police officer said.

When the girl reached Pune, her took her to a lodge at Katraj and raped her. In August, when she told him that she was pregnant, he forced her to undergo an abortion, the officer said.

He then started avoiding the girl, police said adding that the girl then visited Pune and approached his parents and other relatives. "However, they too ignored her. The girl then registered a complaint against him on Tuesday," the officer said.

The man has been booked under section 376 (rape) of the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. We are yet to arrest him, the officer said.