E-Paper
Class 10 student gang-raped inside a moving car in Capital; 3 held
A police officer said a man known to the girl picked her up in a car before two other men allegedly raped her after taking her to a desolate place.
New Delhi: Two men allegedly gang-raped a 16-year-old girl inside a moving car in south Delhi’s Mahipalpur and filmed the act, after picking the victim from a market near her house in Vasant Vihar’s jhuggi jhopri cluster, police said on Friday, and added that they have arrested three people in connection with the case.
Deputy police commissioner (southwest) Manoj C said the incident took place on July 6, and a case was registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) on July 8, when the parents of the girl informed the police.
An investigator who is aware of the case details said one of the arrested accused who is allegedly known to the victim, a student of Class 10, offered her a ride in his car around 8.30pm when she was returning home after meeting a friend who lives nearby.
The police, quoting the complaint registered by the girl’s parents, said when the girl reached a street near her house, she saw three men waiting there in a car. One of them was known to her, and offered to take her on a ride in the car, the police said.
Investigators said according to the complaint, the girl did not know the other two occupants but agreed to go for the ride. They said after driving around for some time, the accused drove towards Mahipalpur and bought liquor from a local shop there. She alleged that when they offered her a drink, she refused. But then, they offered a cold drink but spiked it with a sedative, the investigators said quoting the complaint.
The victim said the accused then drove towards Ghaziabad but she does not remember the route that they took since she was not fully conscious after consuming the cold drink. Police said the victim alleged that one of the accused first kissed her and when she resisted, the two others raped her inside the car.
She also alleged that the accused filmed the act and kept threatening her to share the video on social media if she kept resisting them. The girl also alleged that when she regained consciousness some hours later, and tried to deboard the vehicle, the accused persons thrashed her, police said.
The accused dropped the victim home early morning, the police said.
“In the afternoon on June 7, the girl told her sister about the incident and subsequently her parents came to know about it,” a police officer said who asked not to be named.
The teenager’s parents reported the matter to the police around 4m on July 8, the officer said, and added that the girl was counselled, and her statement was recorded before a magistrate. The officer said that a medical examination was conducted on the victim which showed “no external injuries”.
Police said based on the statement by the girl, the 25-year-old man who was known to the girl was arrested. Based on the information provided by him, the other two accused were also held. The police withheld the details of the accused to protect the identity of the minor victim.
A retired police officer who has handled several cases of crime against women in his career and asked not to be named said, “In our society where a rape survivor also has to face the stigma along with the trauma of the crime, we need legislative, judicial and administrative interventions which will make a woman victim of crime feel secure and confident so that she can report the crime without any fear.”
