Student claims Facebook friend called her home, raped at knife-point, kept her locked for one night

The rape of another teen by a friend she befriended on a social networking site, yet again emphasises the perils of making friends online. A 17-year-old was allegedly raped at knife-point by her 20-year-old friend, whom she befriended on the social networking site Facebook.

Rosy (name changed), is a first-year-student of the mass media course at Swami Vivekanand College, Chembur. The victim lodged a complaint on Sunday against Pankaj Mishra, a third-year-student of Management Studies course from the same college. Pankaj raped her at his residence on July 21 after which he was apprehended yesterday, B B Rathod, Senior Inspector at Chembur Police Station said.

According to police sources, they first met on Facebook a month ago and became friends, and subsequently offered to help her out with an advertising project. "As they met in the college later, they became good friends.

The victim told Mishra that she had to complete one project. Mishra offered to help and called her at his home on July 20 saying he had done similar projects when he was in the first year," Rathod added.

The next day again she went to Mishra's house but this time he forced her to stay back and threatened to hurt her with a knife, police claimed. The police revealed that he took her inside the bedroom of his home and raped her at knifepoint. According to the girl's statement, he also had a condom. The police said that the presence of the condom showed that it was a pre-meditated crime.

The victim added that she was locked inside the room for the entire night, as there was no one at his residence. When media asked the victim's father about her absence from home, he said, "I felt she was at her friend's home. I also called her friend, who said that she had gone to some friend's place; hence I did not file a missing persons complaint."

The police added that the victim was taken to Nagpada police hospital for a medical examination and that further probe was on. Meanwhile, the police have booked Pankaj under sections 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint), 342 (Punishment for wrongful confinement), and 376 (Punishment for rape) of IPC.