Dehradun: A friend of 16-year-old Dalit boy who was allegedly beaten to death by the family of an upper-caste girl for befriending her was arrested in Tehri Garhwal on Wednesday on “charges of raping her”. The arrest was made in connection with a separate case.Circle officer Chandramohan Singh said the accused, 22, was arrested in an FIR registered on July 11 under the BNS section 70 (gang rape) and Posco Act on a complaint filed by the girl’s mother.“The complaint was accompanied by the girl’s medical report supporting the allegations. The accused was arrested during the investigation, produced before a local court on Wednesday, and remanded to judicial custody,” Singh said.The murder of the Dalit boy had sparked outrage after allegations that the girl’s family held him captive and fatally assaulted him on the intervening night of June 7 and 8. As per the allegations, the family informed his father the next morning that his son had been killed.In his “dying declaration”, the boy said he had gone to a neighbouring village to meet the girl after she called him. He said he was accompanied by his friend and that both were caught by the girl’s family, confined to a room, and assaulted through the night.Police have so far arrested four people in the murder case, including the girl’s father and grandfather.
