16-year-old gang raped by seven; four held

A 16-year-old girl was raped by seven people in Bhiwandi, India. Four of the accused, including the main perpetrator, have been arrested. The girl knew some of the accused as they lived nearby. The main accused had an affair with the victim and then called her to an isolated place where he and his friends raped her. The main accused also recorded an obscene video of the victim and circulated it. The accused have been booked under rape and child protection laws. The remaining three accused are still at large.

Bhiwandi: A 16-year-old was raped in the first week of October by seven people aged between 20 to 30 in Bhiwandi, the police said on Tuesday. The police arrested four out of the seven accused, including the main accused, on Monday. The girl knew some of the accused as they lived nearby, said the police.

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“The main accused had an affair with the 16-year-old a few days ago. Later, under the pretext of meeting, he called her to an isolated. There he and his six friends raped her,” Ranvir Bayas, senior police inspector, Bhiwandi Rural, said.

After the incident, her mother noticed that she was upset for a few days. On persistent queries by her mother, the victim narrated the incident to her mother and later approached the police station on Sunday to file a case against them.

“The main accused revealed that he recorded an obscene video of the victim and circulated it in their friend’s WhatsApp group,” said Bayas.

The accused have been booked for rape under the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act and the Information Technology Act. The four arrested accused were produced in court, which remanded them in police custody till October 23, and a manhunt for the remaining three accused has been launched.