Woman gang-raped, tortured after refusing to dance for troupe

A 26-year-old woman was held hostage allegedly for a week, gang-raped and burns were inflicted on her private parts in Kushinagar district, police said on Saturday. The incident took place when the woman refused to meet the demand of her mother’s friend who wanted her to work as a dancer in her troupe, police added.

The matter came to light after the woman, a resident of Gorakhpur’s railway stadium area, escaped from the clutches of her captors in Kushinagar and reached her friend who is a student in Gorakhpur.

The police have recorded the woman’s statement and sent her for a medical examination.

“An FIR has been registered against the suspects on the basis of the complaint filed by the woman’s mother. Police teams are on the lookout for the suspects,” said Brijesh Kumar, station house officer of Cantonment police station officer here. The woman was working in Varanasi. She came to visit her mother in Gorakhpur last week. Her mother’s friend, a woman, took her to Kushinagar on the pretext of seeking her help for a wedding in her family. Once in Kushinagar, she was asked to dance for a troupe there. When she refused, she was gang-raped by five men on the instructions of her mother’s friend, police added, quoting the complaint. She was also denied food. She jumped off the roof of the building where she was being detained and escaped on Friday when her captors were sleeping, police said.