JAIPUR: A 20- year-old woman was allegedly gang raped by three men on the way to a temple in Jaipur.
The accused allegedly assaulted the woman's male acquaintance, who was accompanying her at the time, said police sources. The accused took the woman to a deserted spot in the forest and gang raped her, police sources added.
Police arrested the three accused involved in the crime. One of the accused is reportedly a Home Guard jawan.
Jaipur DCP Prashant Kiran stated that the 20-year-old woman had gone to a temple with an acquaintance on May 23. The pair was sitting on a hillock, engaged in conversation, when the accused arrived and recorded a video of them using mobile phone.
After filming the video, the accused surrounded the couple, thrashed the young man accompanying the woman, tied up his hands and feet, and proceeded to gang-rape the woman.
They threatened to make the video viral if she revealed the incident to anyone, before abandoning her in a deserted forest area and fleeing the scene.
The 20-year-old recounted her ordeal to her family members after escaping from the accused.
A formal complaint was lodged againt the accused after repeated assurances that her identity would be kept confidential.
Subsequently, on May 24, the victim visited the police station and provided full details of the incident.
Special teams were formed by the police after the case was registered.
These teams identified and apprehended all three accused, and they were arrested on May 27.
The police said the accused were arrested with their faces covered to prevent premature identification.
The victim's statement is scheduled to be recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). For the time being, the police have refrained from disclosing the identities of the accused. A formal identification parade (test identification parade) for the accused will subsequently be conducted inside the jail.
Acting on the survivor's complaint, the police have registered a case and facilitated her medical examination. During the investigation, the police have recovered suspicious videos involving other women from the mobile phones of the three accused. The police strongly suspect that the accused may have committed similar crimes in the past.