Gujarat: Six people, including juvenile, arrested for accused gangrape of minor

The Narmada district police arrested six people on Thursday, including a minor, in connection with the alleged gangrape of a 16-year-old girl from the area's Dediapada taluka. The district police are also prepared to bring one of the six juveniles charged in the case to trial.

According to the FIR, which was filed late Wednesday at the Dediapada police station, the incident occurred on the night of January 31 and February 1, when one of the six accused allegedly misled the survivor into accompanying him to a deserted public works department structure near her school and raped her. Following that, the accused is said to have threatened the survivor with severe repercussions.

"The accused then took her to another deserted location nearby, where two other accused were waiting. The two accused, along with the first accused, took turns to rape the survivor. After the two other accused left, the first accused continued to keep the victim in his custody… he dragged her to a field, where three other accused arrived one after the other and raped her in turns. The accused threatened to kill her and hurled casteist abuse at the survivor," it stated. The survivor is the complainant in the case.

One of the six accused is a 17-year-old juvenile, according to police, but the investigating officers are planning to bring the juvenile to trial. Himkar Singh, the Superintendent of Police for the Narmada District, said "The survivor 'is in stable condition as her injuries were not life-threatening. The accused kept her in illegal confinement throughout the night and arrived one by one to rape her. Although one of the six accused is a juvenile, we have taken him into custody and we will seek trial for him as per the amendment to the law after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case."

Meanwhile, the traumatised survivor is being counselled by the district police. All of the suspects have been charged with kidnapping (363), gangrape (376 (D)], penalty for serial rape of a woman [376(2)(n)], and criminal intimidation [506(2)] under the relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO). The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, has also been used to charge one of the six defendants.