An autorickshaw driver and his friend have been arrested by the Junagadh district police after they allegedly abducted two minor Dalit girls from Keshod town and later raped them. Police said the survivors, who are cousins, had gone to Keshod for taking their Class 11 annual examination and that they knew the two alleged rapists.
“We produced them in a local court on Sunday and the court has granted us their custody for two days,” a deputy superintendent of police (DySP) of Junagadh told The Indian Express.
The auto-rickshaw driver and his friend are natives of villages surrounding Keshod town, the police officer said. “Two more men, who are friends of the prime accused and who helped the two main accused in abducting and raping the minors, are on the run. Efforts are on to nab them,” the DySP further said.
According to police, the incident took place when the two girls, who belong to different villages of Keshod taluka, reached Keshod bus station Wednesday for taking their annual school examination in the town.
“The autorickshaw driver had enticed the 15-year-old survivor into a relationship. Later on, through him, his friend developed a relationship with the girl’s 16-year-old cousin. On Wednesday morning, when the two sisters came to Keshod for their examination, the auto driver, his friend and two others–also his friends–abducted them in the autorickshaw and took them to the Union Territory of Diu,” a police officer privy to the case said.
On a sea beach in Diu, the auto driver and his friend molested the 15-year-old and the 16-year-old respectively, police said.
“From the beach, the auto driver and the 15-year-old left for a hotel in Diu and after checking into the hotel, the auto driver allegedly sexually assaulted the minor girl. Later on, they boarded a bus back to Keshod the same day,” said the police officer.
Meanwhile, the auto driver’s friend, the 16-year-old girl and two other men accompanying them left for Keshod in the autorickshaw. However, the engine of the autorickshaw failed near Prachi village in Sutrapada taluka of Gir Somnath district. The man’s brother-in-law came to pick him up and the 16-year-old girl, and took them to his home in Jasadhar village 10 km away. There, the auto driver’s friend raped the 16-year-old,” the police officer further said.
The matter came to light when the 15-year-old girl returned home late Wednesday night and reported the matter to the police. Her father lodged a complaint with the Keshod police station Thursday morning.
“The accused lured the two cousins into a relationship, promising them to marry them. However, the survivors are minors and therefore, the accused have been booked under IPC Sections 363 (abduction), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc), 376 (rape), 354 (criminal force on a woman to outrage her modesty), 114 (common intent) as well as under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as the victims belong to Scheduled Castes,” the officer said.
This article first appeared on indianexpress.com