KENDRAPARA: A 15-year-old girl in Odisha’s Kendrapara district was gang-raped by five miscreants, including her own uncle, on Saturday night. Police detained all five accused on Tuesday after the incident was reported.
According to the police, the victim, a native of a village under Rajnagar police station, lodged an FIR against all five accused, including her 30-year-old uncle. She said that on Saturday evening, which was Raksha Bandhan day, she had gone with her uncle on a motorbike to the nearby market at Ouapada for some purchases.
However, on the way, the accused uncle took her by force to a secluded field and, after physically overpowering her, raped her. The victim further stated that four miscreants, who were consuming alcohol near the spot, rushed to the scene after hearing her screams. Instead of helping her, “all the four drunk persons gang-raped her several times, taking turns after attacking her uncle”.
The FIR also mentions that the accused assaulted her when she unsuccessfully tried to resist their heinous crime. “All the miscreants also threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the incident,” said Naresh Kumar Sahoo, Inspector-in-Charge of Rajnagar police station.
In her complaint, the victim said she had contemplated dying by suicide following the gruesome incident, but one of her relatives encouraged her to file a police complaint. “One of her relatives gave her courage to lodge an FIR against all the accused, for which she, along with a village woman, reached the police station on Tuesday and filed the complaint,” added the police officer.
As soon as the incident was reported, police launched an investigation and detained all five accused on Tuesday. A case has been registered under Sections 70(2) (gang rape), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) and 351 (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
The victim is a Class IX student at the village school, police said.