A 14-year-old Dalit girl was subjected to sexual assault and abortion by a butcher in Lucknow’s Gosainganj area.

The miscreant, later, offered money to the girl to compromise.

The police came to know of the incident only after the family lodged a complaint on Sunday.

The police have arrested the accused, identified as Mohammed Umar, 40.

Police said that the accused ran a shop in the locality and developed a fancy for the girl when he saw her going to school. He caught her one day when she was all alone.

“It was alleged that Umar forced himself on the girl and threatened her to keep quiet about the ordeal she had suffered. After that, he used to stop her and rape her frequently. The girl, a student of class four, was under mental stress. She became pregnant and when she complained about this to the accused, he took her to a doctor and got the foetus aborted. The abortion caused the girl to suffer blood loss. He parents became worried and they took her to a doctor who revealed the ordeal the girl had suffered,” said Gosainganj SHO Deepak Pandey.

There were reports that the accused offered money ranging between Rs 4-5 lakhs to the victim’s family to hush up the case but the villagers learnt about the incident.

Later the police were informed and a case was registered in this connection.

Meanwhile, taking cognizance of the incident, Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who holds the health portfolio, has directed the chief medical officer to seal the hospital where the abortion of the minor girl was carried out.

Pathak said that as per the initial probe it was found that the hospital was running illegally without licence and registration.

He asked the officer concerned to lodge an FIR against the hospital administration.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)