Two juveniles and seven others were arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a 15-year-old girl who had been missing since April 8, police said on Tuesday.
The girl, a resident of neighbouring Sultanpur district, was found semi-conscious in a field on Monday evening and was taken to a hospital.
In her statement, she alleged that the accused youths sexually assaulted her at two hotels in Jaunpur. Hours later, a police team got a tip-off that the nine suspects were hiding in a building and were planning to flee.
They panicked upon seeing the police and attempted to escape by jumping from the building’s terrace, Jaunpur Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shailendra Kumar Singh said.
All of them sustained injuries while trying to escape, he added.
Seven youths, aged between 19 and 21, were on Tuesday produced in a Jaunpur court, which sent them to judicial custody, the police said. The two minors were presented before the Juvenile Justice Board, which ordered their detention in a correctional home, the officer added.
Based on the girl’s complaint, an FIR was registered under Section 70 (gang-rape) and other provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. While five of the accused have been charged with sexually assaulting the victim, four are accused of helping them.
Superintendent of Police Kaustubh said the victim’s medical examination has been conducted, and her statement was recorded before a magistrate. She has been lodged in a government shelter home, he added.
The victim’s family arrived in Jaunpur after they were informed about the incident.
Four of the accused, who are either owners or managers of the two hotels where the alleged sexual assaults took place, have been booked for allegedly allotting the main suspects rooms without completing the required formalities, the police said.
The victim said she ran away from home on April 8 as her parents were trying to arrange her marriage, which she was opposed to.
Sultanpur is nearly 90 kilometers from Jaunpur.
She claimed that after reaching Jaunpur, she spent days roaming around the bus stand and the railway station.
On April 15, she came in contact with two of the accused, who took her to a hotel and sexually assaulted her, she said. Later, three more persons, including the two minors, also joined them, she added.
After three days, the accused shifted her to another hotel and continued to assault her sexually, she alleged.
The girl further said she escaped from the hotel on Monday and reached a field, the venue of a fair, where she collapsed and lost consciousness.
The police said they are collecting CCTV footage from the locations where the alleged sexual assaults occurred. “We are trying to gather more details from the victim regarding the case,” an official said.
“There are several unanswered questions. But we are trying to find answers to them in our investigation,” he added. Two Juveniles, including seven others, were arrested in Jaunpur.
The police in Sultanpur said the girl’s parents did not file any missing complaint. A senior district police official said the girl had gone missing in January this year and her parent had lodged a missing complaint. She was later recovered, he added.
