Ranchi’s Dec 16: Boy thrashed, girl gangraped

DUO HAD GONE TO AN ASHRAM WHEN THEY WERE ATTACKED BY GANG OF EIGHT

In a case similar to the December 16 gangrape in Delhi, a 16-year-old schoolgirl was raped by eight at a secluded locality on the outskirts of Ranchi (Jharkhand) on Sunday while her friend was held at a distance.

The incident took place as the duo, both teenagers, were on their way back from a temple in Ranchi’s Kamre village. Around eight youths surrounded them, assaulted the boy and took the girl to the other side of a river and raped her.

Badly injured, the victim — a Class-10 student of a reputed Ranchi school — was rushed to a hospital late in the night. A case against the unidentified criminals was lodged on Monday night with the Ratu police station after the girl recovered her senses and narrated her ordeal to her parents and the police.

Her friend, also a teenager, told the police that they had gone to the Kamre village ashram and were taking a stroll along the river bed when the group attacked them.

“One of them held me hostage for a couple of hours before they set both of us free in the night,” the boy said.

“We took the boy to the village where the incident occurred,” city police superintendent Manoj Ratan Chothey said. He said more than 30 people were interrogated, while three suspects had been detained. “They could be arrested soon as we have evidence against them,” he added.

Crimes against women, especially rape, have skyrocketed in Jharkhand, with a whopping 812 rape cases registered last year.