15-year-old ‘gangraped’ in Jharkhand; 3 held

Police said the matter came to their knowledge after the girl, who is from the Dalit community, was admitted to hospital two days after the incident. An FIR was registered on Monday based on the girl’s statement.

A 15-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped in the early hours of Saturday in a village in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district, police said, adding that they had arrested three accused and were on the lookout for two others.

According to police, the matter came to their knowledge after the girl, who is from a Dalit community, was admitted to hospital two days after the crime was committed. An FIR was registered on Monday based on the girl’s statement.

Police sources said the girl, along with two of her friends, were celebrating Karma Puja till the early hours of Saturday, after which she went to relieve herself. That was when the five accused, including three from the same village, took her away while her two friends managed to flee, police said.

“A minor girl was gang raped and we have arrested three named accused, while two are yet to be arrested,” said Hazaribag Superintendent of Police Manoj Ratan Chothe. Asked whether there was a problem with the availability of toilets in the village, he said: “This is a one-off incident, and there are toilets in the village.”

The panchayat mukhiya (village head) said the girl is from a “very poor” family and both her parents are daily-wage labourers.

“The girl did not speak about the incident to anyone. Police came to know about it after she went to a hospital with her mother. We held a meeting and pressured the family members of the accused, after which police arrested them,” he said. Asked about the availability of toilets in the village, he said: “Most of the houses have toilets.”

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