Raj: 3 men rape 16-year-old girl, held

: A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by three men in Rajasthan’s Karauli district and later found in a dry well, officials said on Monday.

The police have taken three accused into custody, the officials said.The girl’s family has alleged that she took their cattle for grazing in a secluded forest area on Saturday, they added.

According to her father’s complaint, three men waylaid her in the forest area and gangraped her before throwing her inside the dry well, Karauli superintendent of police Mridul Kachawa said. When she did not return home till late evening, her family began a search for her, her father said in his complaint.

The girl was found inside the well on Sunday and rushed her to a hospital, the official said citing the father’s complaint.

The girl’s father in his complaint also named three accused who are being interrogated by the police, the senior official said.

An FIR under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), officials said. According to officials, one of the accused is a minor. The police are trying to ascertain the ages of the other accused, the officials said.

The girl is undergoing treatment at a local hospital, the officials said. A team of investigators has visited the crime scene and the dry well, they added.