Man helps newlywed wife report 6-year rape ordeal, accused booked

Varanasi: After six years of silence, a newlywed woman found support in her husband to report repeated rape by a local pathologist, police said Saturday. Setting an example, the 24-year-old husband approached senior police officers seeking justice for her, reports Rajeev Dikshit.Based on his complaint, Mirzamurad police booked Dashrath Patel, 60, under IPC sections for repeated rape, criminal intimidation, and the Pocso Act, said ACP (Rajatalab) Ajay Srivastava. Police said Patel had been blackmailing and assaulting her since 2019, when she was a minor. He fled after the FIR and is being traced.The abuse allegedly began on Sept 9, 2019, when the survivor, then 14, was waiting outside her coaching centre. Her neighbour, a pathology centre owner, took her inside, pulled down the shutter and raped her, police said. He threatened her into silence. Exploiting her fear of stigma, he later blackmailed her over the phone, threatening to defame her. He allegedly raped her repeatedly from 2019 to 2025.In April this year, her family married her to a youth. After reaching her in-laws' house and noticing the caring nature of her husband, she gathered courage and shared her trauma. The husband decided to support her in getting justice and met senior police officials.