Photo for Representational purposeless only.
Police have arrested six persons after a 19-year-old woman from Varanasi alleged that 23 men raped her over the span of seven days after she went missing from her home on March 29.
The woman returned home on April 4 and reported the incident to her family, who then contacted the police.
The woman, a resident of a locality under the Pandeypur Lalpur police station, was reported missing on March 29.
Upon her return, she alleged that she was held captive and sexually assaulted multiple times by 23 men during the week she was absent from her home.
DCP Varuna Zone, Chandrakant Mina, said on Monday that an FIR was lodged on the complaint of her mother.
The charges were filed under section 70(1) (gang rape), 74 (outraging modesty), 123 (administering poison or harmful substance), 126(2) (obstructing movement), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of BNS against all accused.
ACP Cantt, Vidush Saxena, stated that following the initial investigation, six accused were arrested, and further legal formalities were underway. More teams are engaged in arresting the other accused.
In her complaint, the girl’s mother mentioned that her daughter went to a friend’s house on March 29. On her way back, she encountered one of the accused, who took her to his café in Lanka and raped her overnight. On March 30, she met another accused and his friend on the road. They took her towards the highway on their motorcycle and raped her before leaving her at Nadesar.
On March 31, she met another five men, who took her to a café in Maldahiya where they drugged her and gang-raped her.
On April 1, one of the accused and a friend took her to a hotel where three others were already present. She was asked to massage a client, during which an unknown person raped her. After leaving the hotel, she encountered another man, who forcibly took her to another hotel and raped her before abandoning her outside.
Later, one of the accused and his two friends took her to a warehouse in Aurangabad, where he raped her. He then took her to a room where two others raped her. She managed to escape and sat in front of a mall at Sigra, where a man and his friend met her on April 2. They offered her noodles, which were already drugged. Later, he raped her and left her at Assi Ghat.
On April 3, she went to her friend’s house and fell asleep due to the effect of intoxicants. In the evening, she met Danish and his friend, who took her to a hotel where Sohel, Shoaib, and another person were present. They drugged and raped her, then left her at Chowkaghat. She went to her friend’s house and returned home on April 4, where she narrated her ordeal.
The DCP said that the girl’s family gave a complaint of her being missing on April 4 after she left home on March 29 and did not return or contact any family member. On the same day, the girl returned home, but the family did not make any complaint on that day. He added that when her mother’s complaint was received, the case was registered, and the arrests of the accused persons started. Three police teams are continuing raids to arrest the other accused persons, he added.
(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)