An international student from India has been charged with rape of his minor cousin in India.
The police in the Indian state of Punjab have alleged that the 24-year-old accused blackmailed the victim to marry him in order to migrate to Canada.
According to the complaint filed with the police in Faridkot city in Punjab, the alleged victim who is now 18, was raped in 2014 when she was visiting her hometown.
The complainant told the police that the accused’s mother - who happens to be the sister of her father - laced her drink with a sedative before she was raped.
“She was a minor at the time of the alleged incident and the accused recorded a video of the incident that he later used to blackmail her and forced her to marry him in Australia,” Jagandeep Kaur, the officer investigating the case told SBS Punjabi.
In 2016, the accused came to Australia as an international student. The alleged rape victim told the police that he used the rape video to force her to travel to Australia and married her so that he could move to Canada as her partner.
“The girl and her family say the accused was threatening to upload the rape video on the internet which prevented them from approaching the police earlier. They are now going to have the marriage annulled in Australia,” said Ms Kaur.
The alleged victim has recorded her statement before a magistrate in India.
The police have also registered a case against the parents and elder brother of the accused for a criminal conspiracy.
The Indian international student has been charged with the sections of the stringent child rape law introduced after the horrific December 2012 incident in which a medical student was gang-raped and badly mutilated in Delhi.
The police says it will get a lookout circular issued against the accused to get him back to India for investigation.
