Three people, including a school headmaster and two teachers, were arrested for allegedly gangraping a minor girl in Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur district in Chhattisgarh. A Forest Department employee was also held for allegedly facilitating the crime.
The accused have been identified as Ravendra Singh Kushwaha, the headmaster of a government primary school; Ashok Kumar Kushwaha and Kushal Singh Parihar, both higher secondary school teachers; and Banwari Singh, a Forest Department employee, Indian Express reported.
The girl was allegedly raped on two occasions. The first incident took place on November 15, when the girl was taken to the house of one of the accused and allegedly gang-raped by the headmaster and the two teachers. The accused warned her not to report the incident to anyone.
On November 22, when the victim was on her way to a shop to buy groceries, one of the accused allegedly stopped her near a bus stop and threatened her. He then took her on his bike to the Forest Department employee’s rented residence, where again she was allegedly gang-raped, Indian Express reported.
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Following the second incident, the girl told her parents who then approached the local police and filed a complaint.
According to IE sources, the accused got close to the girl, who was from another school, on the pretext of guiding her in her studies.
Inspector General of Police Ankit Garg said, “A case of gangrape has been registered and four accused have been arrested.”
The four accused have been booked under BNS sections 70(2) (gangrape of minor), 49 (abetment), and 351(2) (criminal intimidation), as well as sections 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and 17 (abetment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.