Written by Divya Goyal (The Indian Express)
The Khanna police in Punjab arrested a Liberian man for allegedly raping a fellow countrywoman after promising to find a place to stay for her in the area.
According to the police, the woman in her complaint stated that she arrived in India on December 27, 2022, and enrolled as a science student at a college in Sangrur.
Since the college in Sangrur lacked basic facilities, she wanted to change it and came in contact with the accused through her uncle, who thought the accused would help her find a better college and trusted him as he was also from Liberia.
The woman said that the accused then took her to show another college in Khanna of Ludhiana district and her family sent some money so that she could find a place to stay. When she told the accused to find her a flat, he told her to stay with him till he found a place for her.
The woman stated that she called back home on the night of January 17 and made her parents speak to the accused and his wife, and the couple told her parents that she would stay with them only for one night and they would find accommodation for her the next day itself.
However, according to the woman, the accused started making excuses from the next day whenever she asked him to find accommodation for her. He would say he was busy or there was no flat available, said the woman in her complaint. She said she could not go out as she knew no one in India.
After a few days, the accused started sending her inappropriate texts such as “I love you” and she told him that she was not interested in him. She said on February 3, the accused and his wife left for the college where they studied. After some hours, the accused returned home when she was alone at the house and forced her to have sex with him. She alleged that when she refused, he forced himself on her and raped her.
She said she was threatened to keep quiet but she recorded some clips of their conversation on her phone. She then left for Delhi, met her uncle on February 5 and filed a ‘Zero’ FIR with Delhi Police on February 7, which was later transferred to Khanna Police.
