Rape charge on woman

TT, New Delhi, July 12: A 26-year-old woman has been booked for raping a 17-year-old boy in New Delhi in probably the first such case under a child protection law.

Delhi police said on Monday night they got a call from the woman who said she had locked herself up in the bathroom of her hotel room in Vasant Kunj, south Delhi, and alleged that she had been raped.

When the police arrived, they found the boy sitting on the bed and the woman in the bathroom.

Initially, the police booked the boy for raping the woman but the situation changed thereafter.

"Initially, they accused each other of rape and we booked the boy for rape. Then the boy started talking. He told us that she had lured him to the hotel through Facebook interactions despite the boy making it clear that he was a minor," said a police officer.

The police said the boy claimed he was approached by the woman through a Facebook profile called "Zinda" a month ago and they had become friends, interacting frequently. The boy, the son of a businessman, has also said the Facebook page of the woman did not feature her picture or mention her age.

"The woman told the minor on Facebook that she is a divorcee and just wanted to have a physical relationship with him, to which the boy had replied that he is a minor. In spite of that, she wanted to meet him," said an officer.

He said chats between the boy and the woman indicated she had taken the lead in getting them to the hotel room. "We were also shown the hotel room bill, which proved the woman paid for the room."

The woman has been charged under Section 8 of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, which makes sexual intercourse with a child or a minor a punishable offence. If found guilty, the woman can be sentenced to jail for three to five years with fine.

The boy has been charged with rape on the woman's complaint. Rape charge against a juvenile carries a maximum jail term of three years.

"The two FIRs have been registered and relevant sections of rape and Pocso have been filed against the woman and the boy. We suspect the incident is a case of honey-trapping for extortion and we have not made any arrests so far," an officer said.

"CCTV footage of the hotel shows the woman entering the room with the boy. She was not in a state of distress. We are questioning the hotel staff."

Pocso is a gender-neutral law. Women are rarely charged with sexual assault although a 2007 study said boys faced sexual abuse. Men have little protection against sexual abuse under the Indian Penal Code, under which Section 376 deals with rape of only women.