Six arrested for raping minor girl in Jharkhand

Dhanbad (Jharkhand): Police have arrested six of the seven accused in the alleged rape of a minor girl in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district, an official said on Thursday.

A 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her underage lover and six of his friends in Dhansar district over a period of two days since Sunday evening.

One of them also filmed the crime with a mobile phone, the police officer said.

Dhansar police station superintendent Manoj Pandey said that six of the seven accused, including the victim’s lover, have been arrested. Of the six, two are reportedly minors while four others are adults.

“They will appear in court on Thursday,” he said.

According to the victim’s statement, her lover called her at Dhanbad railway station on Sunday evening and took her to a house in Duhatand where he and a friend raped her.

After committing the crime, the defendant locked her in a room.

The next evening, she was raped in a bush near the house by five more of her lover’s friends, the victim told police.

After hearing the girl’s cries for help, locals went to the crime scene, but by that time all the accused had already fled, the police officer said.

When police searched the house of the girl’s lover, no one was there. Police are also trying to trace the whereabouts of the victim’s family.

The victim, who is currently staying at a home in Dhanbad, is being counselled by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).

CWC Chairman Uttam Mukherjee said attempts were being made to persuade her to reveal the personal details of her family members, but she was not cooperating.

The victim claimed that her parents had already died and her younger sister lived in Bihar.

“She also claimed that she lives with her uncle in Bihar. However, she refused to share his name and residential address. We are also trying to find out how she came to Dhanbad from Bihar,” Mukherjee said.

A police officer in charge of the investigation said the girl’s statements were misleading the investigation.

“Now we are relying on the interrogation of the accused’s lover to find out details about the girl,” he said.