Gang of 6 rape teenager after offering to escort her home

A 16-year-old girl's decision to seek the ‘protection' of her male friends on a walk back home through an isolated stretch ended in catastrophe, when the six youths gang-raped her in the cover of darkness. The minor was violated at knifepoint near Santosh Nagar Bridge in Goregaon (East). No arrests have been made so far.

According to the Dindoshi police, the incident took place last Friday, when two of the young girl's friends Wasim and Asgar invited her to the MHADA Colony flat shared by four of their friends - identified as Surya, Kaalu, Rahul and Arjun. They said that a pooja was being held at the home on the occasion of Dhanteras. Once the pooja was over at the apartment around 10 pm, the girl expressed anxiety at the prospect of going home alone at the late hour. The boys offered to escort her up to the bridge. But they had other, more sinister plans.u00a0

Taking advantage of the isolation, the boys took her to a lonely spot near the bridge and brandished a knife to subdue her, after which they took turns violating her in an ordeal that lasted nearly two hours. The girl managed to make it home and narrated the entire episode to her mother, who accompanied her to Dindoshi police station.

The officer on duty, however, had a theory of his own - he allegedly told them that the girl had no business complaining after having willingly ventured out with the boys and enjoyed herself with them. He waved them away from the police station without registering the complaint. The teenager's mother had to seek the assistance of an NGO to finally get an FIR registered against the six youths.

"On Sunday, the girl approached us, saying she was raped by six youths. On the basis of the complaint, we registered the case. I don't know about the incident on Friday that you are speaking of where some officer had asked them to go away from the police station and did not registered the FIR. All the accused are known to each other and the survivor also knows them.

At the moment no arrests have been made but a manhunt has been launched to nab the culprits," said Jaywant Mane, senior police inspector from Dindoshi police station. A case has been registered under section 376 (G) (gang rape) of the IPC, and a special team has been formed to nab the accused, Mane added.u00a0