An orphan Dalit boy who works as a waiter at a highway restaurant has accused a constable of confining him to a police station and sexually abusing him, saying the ordeal continued over two days before he somehow managed to escape.

The 15-year-old reached another police station on Tuesday evening where a case was registered against the constable, Sanjesh Kumar Yadav, 45, who is absconding.

Uttar Pradesh police have booked Yadav under the penal code’s Section 377 for raping a minor and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Jay Prakash, superintendent of police of Hathras district where the alleged assault took place, said he had suspended the constable and formed teams to arrest him.

Police sources said the accused was possibly in Shikohabad, his hometown in Firozabad district, and would be arrested in a day or two.

Yadav, who spoke to reporters on the phone from an undisclosed location, claimed he was innocent.

“The boy has bad habits. I had given him shelter in my room,” he said.

The minor boy has told senior police officials that Yadav, who was part of the dedicated patrol service Dial 100, visited the highway restaurant every evening for dinner.

On Sunday, he said, Yadav told him to bring him dinner to his room in Chamar Gate police station, about 1km from the restaurant. When the boy reached the constable’s room, Yadav forced himself on him.

“He tried to remove my clothes and then started beating me when I resisted. Then he abused me sexually. He locked me inside and went away during the day and continued the ordeal in the night. I shouted for help but the other policemen couldn’t hear me,” an officer quoted the boy as saying at Kotwali police station, the area’s main police station, where he lodged the complaint with the help of some local people.

Hathras police chief Jay Prakash said a medical examination of the victim had “confirmed” the incident. “He has been admitted to hospital and two constables have been deployed for his security. Besides registration of a criminal case against the accused, a departmental inquiry has also been ordered.”

The victim, who is from Kasganj, 60km from Hathras, 400km west of Lucknow, had been living in an orphanage in Hathras district till August and studied in Class X in a local government school. He had rented a room in the locality last month and joined the restaurant as a waiter to pay his school fees.

Jaspal Singh Panwar, the in-charge of Kotwali police station, said the boy was doing fine. “We will hand him over to his aunt after his release from hospital.”