Five NGOs gangraped in India’s Jharkhand

Miscreants took the victims to a forest where they raped them at gunpoint

Five women working with an NGO were allegedly raped at gunpoint by a group of at least five men when they had gone to a village in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand to create awareness on migration and human trafficking, the police said yesterday.

Initial investigation has found that the people behind ‘Pathalgarhi’ (a practice in which villagers inscribe various tenets on huge stone slabs and ban outsiders in their area), are behind the incident in Chochang village of Khunti district on Tuesday, Deputy Inspector General of Police Amol V. Homker said.

According to SP Ashwini Kumar Sinha, an 11-member team of an NGO went to the village to perform a street play on migration and human trafficking. A group of men arrived on the scene and took them to a nearby forest at gunpoint where the crime was perpetrated.

Police in Jharkhand state have launched a massive crackdown to nab the absconding rapists after five women engaged in a social awareness campaign were picked up at gunpoint and allegedly gang-raped.

Human trafficking drive

The victims associated with a cultural organisation were engaged in a campaign against human trafficking and witchcraft which have claimed scores of lives in the mineralrich state in recent years.

The incident took place at KochangvillageinJharkhand’s Kunti district early last week but was reported to the police on Thursday. Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das while condemning the incident has ordered the immediate arrest of the criminals engaged in the heinous crime.

Reports said the victims who were part of an 11-member cultural team were performing street plays at a local school on Tuesday afternoon when some miscreants riding bikes and a car reached the spot and ordered them into the car. Subsequently, they took them to a nearby forest where they were allegedly gang-raped at gunpoint.

Police said the miscreants also shot a video of the entire incident and threatened to upload the videos on social media if the victims dared to report the incident to the police. They were freed from captivity after some three-four hours. All the victims are aged between 18 and 22. Two of the five victims are said to be married women.