Woman claims rape, teen says coerced into it

In a bizarre case, the Delhi police on Monday registered cases against a 26-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy, a minor, who allegedly had an intimate encounter, but later charged each other with forced sex.

The woman has been charged under Pocso Act, which makes sexual intercourse with a child or a minor a punishable offence. However, the boy was charged with rape on the woman’s complaint.

The police, which suspects the case to be a “honey trap,” said the woman and the minor boy had come in contact with each other on Facebook about a month ago. The boy claimed that he was approached by the woman, through a Facebook profile called Zinda, and said that she wished to befriend him after which they became friends.

“As per the Facebook chat details, the woman lured the boy for a physical relationship. The woman insisted that the boy meet her in a room. However, when the boy said he did not have money to arrange a hotel room, she agreed to pay for the hotel room and a packet of condoms,” said the police.

They fixed the meeting in a hotel on Facebook chat. The boy and the woman met on Monday and went to a hotel in Vasant Kunj where they allegedly had a sexual encounter. However, the woman later called the police, accusing the boy of raping her, said a senior police officer.

The boy, however, claimed that he was coerced to enter into a physical relationship by the woman. He claimed that he had initially spurned her offer, but later was lured into it.

The two FIRs have been registered and relevant sections of rape and Posco Act have been included against the woman and the boy, the officer said.

The police suspects the incident is a case of “honey-trapping” for extortion, but has not made any arrests so far.

“As per CCTV footage of the hotel, the woman entered into the room with the boy. She was not seen in a state of distress in the footage. We are also questioning the hotel staff to verify the claims of the boy and the woman,” said the police officer.