Patna: A teenage girl was gang-raped before her boyfriend in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand on Wednesday night, a stark reminder of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape incident that triggered nationwide outrage.
Police say eight people raped the girl while some 15 persons have been accused.
The police have arrested eight accused persons while raids are on to nab the remaining seven, who are absconding.
Police said the 19-year-old tribal girl and her boyfriend had gone out on a sightseeing trip in the forested Dumka district of Jharkhand on Wednesday evening when a group of men overpowered them. They made a phone call to their friends after which 10 more men arrived on the scene.
Subsequently, they took the girl near a bush, forced her to take off clothes and filmed her before raping the girl one by one in front of her boyfriend at knife’s point.
The accused refused to relent despite repeated appeals for mercy, according to the victim. Reports said the accused persons also forced the victim to take bath in a local pond in a bid to destroy the physical evidence.
It was only after the accused fled the scene that the boyfriend took the victim to a local police station on late Wednesday night after which she was admitted to a local hospital for medical examination. On Thursday, her statement was recorded by the local police after which the police launched raids to nab the accused persons.
Acting on the information provided by her, the police have arrested eight persons while raids on to nab the remaining accused persons. “All the accused will be arrested at any cost and justice delivered to the victim,” the local district superintendent of police Mayur Patel told the media today.
On Friday, State Women Commission member Sharmila Soren met the girl in the hospital and inquired about her health. She promised all support to her from her side.
“This is a shameful act worth condemnable. A girl can’t feel safe even today,” she told the media.
Last month, another tribal girl was stripped naked and allegedly paraded by her peers in the hostel campus in the same district on the suspicion of stealing a cell phone. The victim was working for her graduate degree in a local college.
