BAREILLY: A 26-year-old woman has alleged that she was raped by a man she fell in love with, blackmailed into converting her religion and marrying him. After marriage, she was allegedly gang-raped by her husband’s friends.

On the basis of her complaint and initial investigation, an FIR under IPC sections 376D (

), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) was registered against her husband and his three friends at Baradari police station in

on Sunday.

The woman’s husband works at a mobile phone service centre in Bareilly city. Police have formed two teams to arrest all the accused, who are absconding after the complaint was lodged.

Narrating her ordeal, the survivor, a resident of Nigohi block of Shahjahanpur district, said after her divorce in 2016, she enrolled herself at a college in Bareilly. There, she came in contact with the accused who posed as a member of her community by donning the sacred thread. She said she did not know that he belonged to a minority community.

As a relationship developed between them, he invited her to his house one day, laced her drink and raped her, she alleged. He also shot a video of the act and forced her to convert and marry him.

But things got worse after their marriage. She claimed she was gang-raped on numerous occasions by her husband’s three friends.

Somehow, she managed to flee and reached her sister’s house, seeking help.

Rahul Singh, SHO of Baradari police station who is investigating the case, told TOI, “We sent the woman for a medical examination on Monday and her statement under section 164 of CrPC would be registered in court of a judicial magistrate on Tuesday. The survivor is scared. However, we have assured her that action will be taken against her husband and other accused.”

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)