The police in Kerala on Friday arrested five people for allegedly raping a 24-year-old woman on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram district, Hindustan Times reported. The woman’s husband is among those arrested.
The incident took place on Thursday night near Puthukurichy beach. She told the police her husband took her and their five-year-old son to a friend’s house from the beach. The woman was allegedly forced to drink liquor and then taken to a nearby vacant plot where the men raped her. The accused also attacked her son when he cried.
The woman told Onmanorama that the accused pressed cigarette butts on her skin and that she lost consciousness when one of them slapped her. She was reportedly allowed to leave after she promised to come back after dropping her son home. A group of people, passing by in a car, helped her and alerted the police.
“Our preliminary investigation shows the husband was a party to the crime,” Thiruvananthapuram Rural Police Superintendent Ashok Kumar said. “He even forced his wife to not file a complaint. Some of the arrested have a criminal past.”
Kumar added that the accused will also be charged under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Police suspect the accused were part of a drug-peddling gang.
Meanwhile, the woman was discharged from the hospital and is in a stable condition.
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