Patna: Two sisters were kidnapped from their home and allegedly gang-raped by seven youths in Bihar barely three days after the Narendra Modi government approved an ordinance to allow courts to serve death penalties to those convicted of raping children up to 12 years of age and harsh punishment to other rapists.
Reports said the girls, who belong to the Dalit caste and who are 15 and 14 years old, were asleep in their hut in Gopalgnaj district on Monday night when the accused corralled them into a field nearby at gun-point and gang-raped them. The victims remained in captivity from 11pm to 3am. They were also beaten up when they resisted rape, according to family members.
Acting on the written complaint, the police have arrested two accused persons so far; the others are absconding. The police have sent the victims for medical examinations.
“We have registered the case and the matter is being investigated,” senior police official Manoj Kumar told media on Tuesday. A medical board had been formed to examine the rape case, he said.
The continuing incidents of rape despite a harsh law by the federal government are quite alarming. The gravity of the situation is underlined by the fact that two more incidents of gang-rape have been reported from various parts of the state in the past 48 hours.
In the first incident, reported from Madhubani district, an 11-year-old girl was gang-raped by some youths on Sunday night while she had gone to a neighbour’s house to buy vegetables. The parents were not at home when the incident took place. Both the accused persons have been arrested.
The second incident was reported from Bhojpur district, where a Dalit girl was allegedly raped by a youth who also made a video of the incident. The police have arrested the accused.
