This Article is From Jul 28, 2010

She'll never be able to sleep, says father of girl allegedly raped by Facebook friend

She'll never be able to sleep, says father of girl allegedly raped by Facebook friend
Mumbai: The family of the girl who was allegedly raped by her Facebook friend is ruing the day she took the decision of going to the boy's home.

"My daughter made one wrong decision and now she will not be able to sleep for the rest of her life. Her life has been ruined by the boy she went home with on that fateful night," said the father of the girl.

MiD DAY visited the home of the 17-year-old student from Swami Vivekanand College, Chembur, who was allegedly raped by Pankaj Mishra, a management student from the same college. The duo had become friends on Facebook. (Read: Mumbai college students met on Facebook, then he allegedly raped her)

The family said the girl had barely spoken since the incident and refuses to step out of the house. "I trusted him and went with him for the project, but he ruined my life," she told MiD DAY.

When asked whether they wanted the boy to get the strictest punishment, the father pointed to an idol and said, "We believe in God and want Him and the law to punish the boy. But, at the moment, we are just concerned about our daughter and her future."

The rape took place on July 21, but the family filed the police complaint only on Sunday. "We got delayed because of the college principal. She had assured us that she will take necessary action against the boy but it never happened," said the girl's mother.

"It was only when we came to know that his father works in the college that we filed a police complaint. When the boy was brought to the police station, he said that he had never met the girl. The principal did not take any action and delayed the case," she added.

In her statement to the police, the girl said, "We became friends through Facebook and met on July 19 and 20. I told him that I had a project to complete and he offered to help me. At 6.30 pm on July 21, we met at Saroj hotel in Chembur. Pankaj told me that we can work on the project at his residence as there was no one at his place. We went there by auto and started working."

"His maid was at home and left at 8 pm. Around 9.30, he went to have food and locked the door. He started misbehaving with me around 10.30 pm. I threatened to kill myself with a knife; he took the knife saying he would drop me home and then raped me at knifepoint. He locked me inside the room and then let me go to college in the morning," she added.

Tejnarayan Mishra, the accused's father, said, "The police have been forcing us to say that we were out of town on the day of the alleged rape. The truth is that we were at home and there is no way our son could have raped the girl at our residence."  

Meanwhile, J K Phadnis, Principal of the Swami Vivekanand College in an interaction with the media said the boy was innocent. She refused to divulge details.
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