At least ten men allegedly raped a 16-year-old Dalit girl in Maharashtra’s Solapur district for over six months, the police said on Wednesday, PTI reported. The police added that five of the accused have been arrested, and booked under Section 376-D of the Indian Penal Code (gangrape), the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Solapur Assistant Commissioner of Police Priti Tipre said the teenager’s father had died a while ago and she was living with her mother, The Hindu reported. The teenager filed a complaint at the Vijapur Naka Police Station in Solapur on Tuesday, following which the police swung into action, the newspaper reported.
However, Tipre said that residents of Solapur saw the girl crying outside a temple on Tuesday and alerted the police.
“While the complainant, who was extremely disturbed, hesitated to divulge any information, she revealed her painful tale after the police took her into confidence,” another police officer said. “According to her, she had been molested by a group of rickshaw drivers since June last year.” The officer added that the girl knew some of the accused.
The search for the five absconding accused is under way, the police said.
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