On December 15, the Maharashtra Police registered a case against an individual named Zeeshan for the reported sexual assault of a minor girl in the Shrigonda region of Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra. Additionally, a girl has been implicated in assisting Zeeshan in approaching the victim. The accused took derogatory images of the victim and coerced her into sexual acts through the use of compromising photographs.
The First Information Report (FIR) has been filed under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The victim is a resident of Shindewadi village, and the accused is from Shrigonda. According to the FIR, the incident came to light on December 14, 2023, when the victim, a student at Maharaj Jeevajirao Shinde College in Shrigonda, contacted her mother to report the blackmail by Zeeshan, pressuring her into a sexual relationship.
The complainant, the victim’s mother, mentioned in the FIR that she promptly travelled to Shrigonda to visit her at the college hostel upon receiving her daughter’s distressing call. The victim narrated to her mother that she was facing constant harassment, threats, and blackmail from the accused.
The 17-year-old victim revealed that she was introduced to the accused, Zeeshan, in August 2023 by a friend, another girl implicated in the case, who claimed Zeeshan was her brother and wanted to befriend the victim. When the victim refused, the friend forcibly made her interact with the accused.
This situation persisted for days, during which the accused forcibly took photographs of the girl. Subsequently, he began harassing her through phone calls, using the other accused girl to pressure the victim into talking to him. When she resisted, he resorted to blackmail, threatening to expose her images in the village.
On September 25, the accused coerced the girl into accompanying him to a hotel, threatening to publicize her image and tarnish her reputation in the village. In a harrowing turn of events, Zeeshan dragged the girl to a lodge, brandished a knife, sexually assaulted her, and warned her to remain silent.
Zeeshan recorded the assault and captured derogatory photographs of the victim, later exploiting these materials to further blackmail and coerce her into complying with his sexual demands. The accused faces charges under sections 76, 376(2)(1) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and sections 4, 11, 12, and 17 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The investigation into the matter is currently ongoing.
