Jharkhand: Six people arrested for raping a minor girl

Dhanbad (Jharkhand): Police have arrested six of the seven accused for allegedly raping a minor girl in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district, an official said on Thursday. A 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her minor boyfriend and his six friends for two days starting Sunday evening in the district’s Dhansar area. One of them also made a video of the crime on a mobile phone, the police official said. Dhansar police station in-charge Manoj Pandey said six of the seven accused, including the victim’s boyfriend, have been arrested. Two of the six are reportedly minors, while the other four are adults. “They will be produced in court on Thursday,” he said. According to the victim’s statement, her boyfriend called her to Dhanbad railway station on Sunday evening and took her to a house in Duhatand, where he, along with one of his friends, raped her. After committing the crime, the accused locked her in a room. The victim told the police that the next evening five other friends of her boyfriend raped her in a bush near that house. The police officer said that locals rushed to the spot after hearing the girl’s cries for help, but by then all the accused had fled. When the police raided the girl’s boyfriend’s house, no one was found there. The police are also trying to trace the victim’s family. The victim is currently staying at a shelter home in Dhanbad and the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) is counselling her. CWC chairman Uttam Mukherjee said efforts are being made to persuade her to get details of her family members, but she is not cooperating. The victim claimed that her parents have already died and her younger sister lives in Bihar. “She also claimed that she lives with her uncle in Bihar. However, she refused to share her name and residential address. We are also trying to find out how she reached Dhanbad from Bihar,” Mukherjee said. A police officer associated with the investigation said that the girl’s statements are misleading the investigation. “We are now relying on questioning the accused lover to get information about the girl,” he said.