Three people arrested since November for sexual abuse of minors | Latest news from India

Three persons have been arrested for sexually abusing a minor girl who is six months pregnant, Dakshina Kannada district police said.

Police identified the accused as Muhammad Iqbal (26), Farooq (19) and a 17.5-year-old. They were taken into custody on Saturday.

Two of the three accused were produced before the JMFC court in Belthangady and the minor was produced before the Mangaluru Juvenile Court, police said.

According to police, the three defendants and the 17-year-old girl live in the same village.

The two defendants had come into contact with the survivor about ten months ago through the underage boy.

They allegedly took the girl into a room and raped her in November 2023, police said.

Police further stated that the three accused shot a video clip of the crime and sexually abused the girl several times, threatening to post the video on social media.

She was repeatedly sexually abused for over six months.

Police said the incident came to light on Friday when the girl complained of abdominal pain and her parents took her to Belthangady Taluk Government Hospital, where doctors confirmed that she was six months pregnant.

The parents filed a complaint with the police, who initiated proceedings against the three accused for rape and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso).

Belthangady police inspector Subbaraya Math said, “We have filed an FIR on the complaint of the minor. We have booked all the accused under Pocso, IPC Section 376 (rape), 506 (death threat) and 354A (sexual harassment) and arrested the accused.”

The JMFC court in Belthangady remanded the two adult accused for 14 days and sent the survivor for medical examination and treatment, Subbaraya Math added.