Jharkhand: 14-year-old raped in moving vehicle

A 14-year-old girl from Bihar was allegedly raped in a moving SUV in the presence of her mother in Jharkhand’s Koderma district, police said on Saturday.

A 14-year-old girl from Bihar was allegedly raped in a moving sports utility vehicle (SUV) in the presence of her mother in Jharkhand’s Koderma district, police said on Saturday.

The incident once again highlighted the state’s growing notoriety as one of the most unsafe places for women in the country.

The minor and her mother’s ordeal lasted for more than five hours on Thursday night, the girl said in an FIR lodged with police at Jainagar, around 180 km from the state capital.

“A complaint has been lodged and we are taking required action to nab the accused,” said Koderma superintendent of police Sangeeta Kumari.

According to FIR, the girl and her mother were abducted by a group of men from near the Koderma railway station when they had gone to a deserted spot to answer nature’s call.

The two were on their way to Kolkata in search of job.

They are residents of Ronipur village in neighbouring Bihar’s Nevada district, police added.

The FIR named one Munna Singh, also a resident of Nevada, as the rapist who forced himself on the minor in the moving SUV.

The mother was held in the back seat by his accomplices.

“I tried to raise an alarm on several occasions but they stuffed my mouth with clothes,” the victim’s mother stated in the FIR.

The minor was sent to a local hospital for medical examination.

“We have formed a task team to nab the accused and his associates,” said Koderma deputy SP Naushad Alam.

This year alone, around 600 rape cases have been reported in Jharkhand till September, police data showed.

1,263 rape cases were reported in the state in 2013 while the number was 812 in 2012.

According to statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), over 500 minors have been raped in the last one decade across the state.