A 14-year-old tribal girl from Rajasthan was allegedly abducted and raped by three men for around four months before she was rescued from a farm in Banaskantha district of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat. The police have arrested one of the accused, Mahesh Koli, who had allegedly kept the girl in captivity at a farm in Dhanera tehsil.
"We have also detained his brother for questioning. Koli had kept the girl at a farm where he and his brother worked as labourers," said sub-inspector LJ Vala of Panthawada police station. "The farm owner got suspicious about the girl’s presence and informed us," Vala added.
The girl, resident of Dungarpur in Rajasthan, told the police that she was abducted by four unidentified men in a car in August this year. One of them raped her and then handed her over to one Vadiya Koli, resident of Amirgadh, she said. "Vadiya Koli too allegedly raped the girl and handed her over to Mahesh Koli," the police official said, adding that further probe was on.
The incidents of crime against women have been on the rise under the current regime. Earlier in the day, a 23-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district was set afire allegedly by her rapists while she was on her way to a court to attend the hearing in the rape case. Doctors say that the woman has suffered 90 per cent burn injuries and is in critical condition.
Also Read | Unnao Rape Victim, Who Was Set Ablaze On Her Way To Court, Air-Lifted To Delhi
According to the details emerging through various media reports, the women ran for a kilometre shouting for help after being set on fire and called the ambulance herself. After committing the crime, the accused were stayed at their home and arrested by the police.
This is the third such case where a woman was raped or sexually assaulted and then set on fire in less than a fortnight. Last month, a veterinary doctor was gangraped and burnt in Hyderabad’s high-security area, which is just 5 minutes away from the Hyderabad airport. In yet another brutal case of suspected rape and murder, a girl was shot dead and burnt after being allegedly sexually assaulted in Kukudha village of Bihar's Buxar district.
(With PTI Inputs)