18-year-old, 8 minors held for gang raping Class-5 girl in Rewari

ROHTAK: An 18-year-old man and eight minors were arrested for allegedly gang raping a Class-5 student and filming the assault in a village in Rewari, police said on Wednesday.

Five of the minors accused of rape are aged between 10 and 12. In their complaint, the 10-yearold girl’s family said the incident took place on May 24 when the victim was playing outside her house. They only realised what had happened after a video of the sexual assault, which was widely circulated, reached them.

Rewari DSP (headquarters) Hansraj, said the victim’s family had lodged a complaint on June 8. “The boys took the girl to the government school near her house. They raped her and recorded the incident. They threatened the girl of dire consequences if she told anybody about the assault. After circulating the video, they started blackmailing the victim.”

The 18-year-old was presented before a local court in Rewari, which sent him to judicial custody, and the five juveniles were sent to an observation home. Three minors were arrested for filming the incident and will be sent to an observation home on June 10.

The accused were booked under Section 376DB (gang rape on woman under 12 years) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act sections of Information Technology (IT) Act and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. A police official said the boys said they had raped the girl after watching a porn video and on the instigation of the 18-year-old man.