A teenager's birthday celebrations in Jharkhand's capital city took a turn for the worst when a group of armed men mobbed the teen and her friends on their way back home and abducted a 15-year-old girl who was then allegedly gang-raped by the accused. The incident took place on the outskirts of Ranchi on Sunday night when the group of teenagers was returning to the city after celebrating at the Remta Dam in the neighbouring district of Khunti.
Police officials familiar with the matter told media outlets that the group of close to 20 students was returning home on two-wheelers when they were halted by a group of six armed men near the Banghara area. Wielding knives and pistols, the assailants initially played moral police and rebuked the girls for travelling with men after sundown. However, they then grabbed the Class 10 student who was riding pillion on a motorcycle along with a male and a female friend and asked her to go with them at gunpoint.
They took her to a forest under the Kharsidag police outpost in Namkum which is about 35 kms from the state capital. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), HQ-II, Amit Renu told The Telegraph that the accused men allegedly gang-raped the minor girl at a spot inside the forest before she managed to run away.
By that time, her friends also gathered locals and launched a search operation. The police were alerted and five arrests were made within hours of the girl being rescued by her friends and local residents. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she is currently being counselled and treated.
A senior police official familiar with the matter said that a medical report of the survivor is still awaited, adding that the accused have been booked under sections 376D, 362, 352, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The sections correspond to charges of gang-rape, abduction, criminal intimidation and common intention respectively.
