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13-year-old raped by her senior at govt school in Andhra: Cops
The key accused and four of his friends, who allegedly filmed the assault, later demanded money from the survivor’s parents have been arrested
A 13-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her senior at a government school in Andhra Pradesh’s Eluru district last week, police on Thursday said, adding that the 15-year-old accused has been detained.
Four men, the accused’s friends who allegedly filmed the assault that took place in the school premises, blackmailed the survivor’s parents, were also arrested. The men, police added, had circulated a clip of the assault after the parents failed to give in to their demand of ₹2 lakh.
The incident took place in the school located in Mandavilli town on May 15 but came to light on Wednesday, after the survivor’s parents filed a police complaint.
According to Mandavalli police sub-inspector (SI) Ramachandra Rao, the girl had completed her Class 7 examinations in March and was visiting school to collect her marksheet when a senior, a student of Class 10, and the four men dragged her into an empty classroom. It was not immediately clear why the boy was visiting the school with his friends.
“While the teenage boy raped her, the four men filmed the act on their mobile phones. The school was shut in view of the summer vacations. A preliminary probe suggested there were no teachers and staff members in the school at the time of the incident,” Rao said.
All the accused later, the SI said, allegedly blackmailed and demanded ₹2 lakh from the survivor’s family. “When the girl’s family failed to arrange the money on time, the accused circulated the video of the assault on WhatsApp,” he said.
“Unable to bear the humiliation, the girl’s family approached the police at Mandavalli police station on Wednesday morning. The accused were held within hours of registration of the complaint and the girl was sent for a medical examination,” he added.
While the juvenile has been booked for rape (section 375 of Indian Penal Code or IPC), the four men have been booked under sections 354 c (filming a private incident without consent), 341 (wrongful restraint), 506 (criminal intimidation), 109 (abetment of crime) of IPC, besides section 14 and 15 of Protection Of Child against Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and section 67 of the Information Technology Act.
“The boy was held and sent to a juvenile home while the remaining accused – Balasubrahmanyam (22), Chandrasekhar (22), Teja (19) and Harikrishna (20) – were arrested and produced before an Eluru court, which remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days,” Rao said.
A detailed investigation is being carried out under the supervision of Kaikaluru inspector of police Krishna Kumar. There was no immediate reaction available from the school.
