A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a man, his brothers and friends in Uttar Pradesh. According to the police, she was even forced to change her religion.

“The accused, Shahzad, and his parents have been arrested,” informed the police

“The girl belonged to the scheduled caste community has alleged that that Shahzad (26) had promised to marry her,” police said, adding that on this pretext, he along with others had forcibly changed her religion a year back.

Kotwali police station in-charge N S Sirohi said, “A case has been registered against seven persons and main accused Shahzad, his mother Gulfshan and father Haroon were arrested on Sunday morning. A search is on for the others.”

According to the police Shahzad was already married and it has been alleged that he raped the girl several times. They added that she was pregnant, and had been forced to undergo an abortion by his family members.

The minor has stated that she had protested, but had been threatened with dire consequences, according to police

His friends had also raped her, they said, quoting the complaint lodged by the girl’s family.

According to the complaint, she was called by Shahzad to his house on July 6 and was taken captive, police said.

On July 8, she was raped by his brothers Bilal and Farman, they said quoting the complaint.

“The girl's family claimed that she reached home on July 10 in a very scared state. When her health deteriorated and they insisted on taking her to a doctor on July 17, she informed them about the incident,” police said.