Bhopal: A case has been registered against five men arrested for allegedly gang-raping a 15-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district Monday evening.
The girl, accompanied by a male friend, was on her way back from tuition classes and the two had ventured into a nearby forested area, when the accused, aged between 20 and 40, intercepted them. They forcibly took the pair to a secluded spot near Kalyanpura village. While one of the assailants held the boy captive, the others dragged the girl deeper into the forest and took turns raping her, said officials from the Kotwali police station, where the case has been registered.
Following the assault, the men also recorded a five-second video of the girl and the boy, threatening them that they will release the video if either of them reported the incident.
Speaking to ThePrint, Raghvendra Tiwari, in-charge of the Kotwali police station, said that after the incident, the girl drove her scooty to a relative’s house who lived around 2 km away and informed them about the incident.
After the matter was reported to the police, a team reached her house where her statement was recorded and the girl was sent for medical examination.
A case under Indian Penal Code Sections 376 (rape), 376 (2)(m) (committing rape while endangering the life of a woman), and 376 (d)(a) (gang-rape), along with Sections 5-G and 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) have been registered.
Superintendent of Police of Shahdol district, Prateek Kumar, said, “We had no idea about who the accused could be since the girl did not know them. All criminals of the locality were rounded up, which is when we learnt that five people were missing. A team was put together to trace them and they were finally held near Umaria district.”
The police Tuesday detained the five accused in the case, identified as Lallu Gupta (37), Sahil Qureshi (22), Kailash Panika (29), Shamim Akram (18), and Afsal Ansari (28).
“The investigation is ongoing. Lallu and Kailash are habitual offenders with prior criminal records of theft, loot and attempted murder,” Tiwari said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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