Three people have been arrested for sexually assaulting a minor girl who is now six months pregnant, Dakshina Kannada district police said.
Police identified the accused as Muhammad Iqbal (26), Farooq (19), and a 17-and-half-year-old. They were taken into custody on Saturday.
Among the three accused, two were produced before the Belthangady JMFC court and the minor was presented before the Mangaluru Juvenile Justice Board, police said.
According to the police, the three accused and the 17-year-old girl are residents of the same village.
The two accused had come in contact with the survivor through the minor boy about 10 months ago.
They allegedly took the girl to a room and allegedly raped her in November 2023, police said.
Police further said that the three accused allegedly made a video clip of the act and sexually assaulted the girl multiple times by threatening to make the video public on social media.
She was sexually assaulted repeatedly for more than six months.
Police said that the matter came to light on Friday when the girl complained of a stomach ache and her parents took her Belthangady Taluk government hospital, where doctors confirmed she was six months pregnant.
The parents filed a complaint with the police, who registered a case of rape and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) against the three accused.
{{/usCountry}}The parents filed a complaint with the police, who registered a case of rape and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) against the three accused.
{{/usCountry}}Belthangady police inspector Subbaraya Math said: “We have registered an FIR following the complaint of the minor. We charged all the accused under Pocso, IPC Section 376 (rape), 506 (threatening with life), and 354A (sexual harassment), and arrested the accused.”
The Belthangady JMFC court remanded the two adult accused to judicial custody for 14 days and sent the survivor for a medical checkup and treatment, Subbaraya Math added.