Eight held for 16-yr-old’s gang rape in Maha

The teen, a resident of Satpati village, was allegedly raped by the accused – all between 18 and 20 years of age – in an empty bungalow at Tembi beach in Mahim village and later at the beach in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly gang raped by eight men in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, police on Sunday said, adding that all accused have been arrested.

An officer at Satpati police said the teen’s father approached police after she left home with some friends in the afternoon and did not return.

The teen, a resident of Satpati village, was allegedly raped by the accused – all between 18 and 20 years of age – in an empty bungalow at Tembi beach in Mahim village and later at the beach in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

An officer at Satpati police said the teen’s father approached police after she left home with some friends in the afternoon and did not return.

“We immediately tracked her phone location which showed she was in her own locality. Several teams were formed to trace her. She was found in the area on Saturday morning and taken to a local hospital. After treatment, her statement was recorded ,” the officer said, wishing not to be named.

In her statement, the officer said, the survivor told police that one of her friends in her locality had convinced her for an outing with him on Friday afternoon. The girl said after she agreed, her friend took her to an unoccupied bungalow at Tambi beach in Mahim village where seven people were already present. She said some of them were known to her, the officer said.

“The girl said she was sexually assaulted by all the accused, first in the bungalow and then on the beach, through the night, after which she was allowed to go. She made her way back to her locality but was unable to go back home after what happened,” the officer said.

Even as the process of registering a first information report (FIR) began, multiple teams from Satpati police station rushed to the residence of some of the accused who were identified by the girl, the officer said.

“Based on their questioning, the other accused too were identified and apprehended and all of them were placed under arrest in the early hours of Sunday morning,” the officer said.

“The accused have been booked for sexual assault, gang rape, wrongful restraint and confinement and assault under the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant sections of the Information Technology Act. They have all been remanded in police custody till December 22,” Palghar superintendent of police Balasaheb Patil said.

The girl was medically examined and the reports are awaited, the officer cited above said.