Accused booked under Pocso Act

PATNA: Police have filed a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012 against the people accused of allegedly raping and repeatedly sexually exploiting a Class 10 student from Bihar, officials familiar with the matter said.

“We have invoked the Pocso Act 2012 against the accused,” Saran superintendent of police (SP) Har Kishore said.

The girl had said before the SP that she was gang-raped by three school mates in the school lavatory in December 2017, who also video-recorded the act.

The accused threatened to make the video viral if she reported the matter to anyone in the school or at her hom, she said. Few days later, despite the girl remaining silent over it, the alleged rapists shared the video with other school friends, and gradually it reached a few teachers and the principal. Everyone in possession of the video, including her two teachers and the principal, began blackmailing her and sexually exploited her, the girl said.

Earlier in the day, the police had arrested the principal, a teacher and two fellow students of the victim. Police said the other accused were absconding but teams have identified their locations and they would soon be arrested. A five-member team led by a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) is carrying out the probe and arresting the accused.

The girl told police on Saturday that since her father was in jail and her younger brother studied in Class 7 of the same school, she held back her complain and silently suffered the cruelty.

“One of my teachers then had stopped me from complaining to police warning that I would put my brother’s life to risk,” the girl told police.