Four booked for teen’s gang rape

LUDHIANA : Police on Saturday booked four persons for allegedly gang-raping a 16-year-old city beautician in a moving car. All accused are on the run.

The girl, who is a Dalit, told police that the accused, who were known to her, dumped her at an isolated spot near Jalandhar Bypass after committing the crime.

A case under sections 376-D (gang rape), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), sections 3 and 4 of Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and section 3 of SC/ST act against Balwinder Singh, Kulwant Singh alias Baba, both residents of Jalandhar, Jassi and Hardeep Singh of Ludhiana.

In her complaint, the girl said that on February 5, the accused came to her house while her parents were out.

A woman was accompanying them and she told the girl that they required a beautician for a bridal makeup. As the four were known to her, the unsuspecting girl went with them, said police.

Later, the accused took turns to rape her in the moving car. The girl said she hailed a threewheeler from Jalandhar Bypass and reached her friend’s house in Basti Jodhewal.

As the accused had threatened her with dire consequences, the girl initially did not tell anything to her parents.

On Friday, she opened up to her parents and narrated them her ordeal following which they lodged a complaint. The girl also alleged that the accused passed castiest remarks against her.

Assistant sub-inspector Surinder Pal, who is investigating the case, said the complainant has not been able to give details of the model of the car and its registration number. “We have started scanning the CCTV footage in the area to get clues,” the assistant sub-inspector added.

The woman accompanying the accused has been identified as Mani. She is wife of one of the accused and has been booked, said the ASI.