Cuttack – A 17-year-old girl, who ran away after a fight with her parents, was taken to a poultry farm in Odisha’s Cuttack by a man who offered to leave her home on his motorcycle and allegedly gang-raped for 22 days . police said Wednesday. Originally from Tirtol, in the neighboring district of Jagatsinghpur, the girl had run away from home after a fight with her parents last month, they said.
While she was waiting to get on a bus at OMP Square in Cuttack to return home, a man offered to leave her on his motorcycle, the girl told the district’s Child Welfare Committee. But instead of going to Tirtol, the young man took her to the poultry farm in the Gatiroutpatna village in the area of the Chauliaganj police station and kept her forcibly confined to a room for 22 days, he said.
Then two men repeatedly raped her on the farm, she added. The girl was rescued during the day when the farm was raided after locals tipped off police, suspecting wrongdoing at the complex, authorities said.
One of the defendants was also arrested and efforts are underway to catch the other, a police officer said. “A police team has been formed to arrest the eloping friend of the defendant,” said Cuttack City Deputy Police Commissioner Prateek Singh.
She was later brought before the district’s Child Welfare Committee (CWC) from where she was sent to an orphanage, she said. A case has been filed under sections 376 (2) (c) and 376 (2) (g) of the IPC that relates to rape and gang rapping, and section 34, which is slapped when multiple people commit a criminal act.
The incident drew strong criticism from different quarters, with the opposition BJP and Congress launching a scathing attack on the BJD government in the state. The BJP Secretary General of State Lekhashree Samantsinghar accused the Naveen Patnaik government of failing to guarantee the safety of women.
Noting that the girl hails from Tirtol, where a by-election is scheduled for next month, she wondered how the ruling BJD will confront people in the constituency. Attacking the state government along the same lines, Congressional spokesman Nishikant Mishra said the gang rape showed that women in the state are not safe at all.
Demanding assistance of Rs 25 lakh for the girl’s family, he said the incident should be investigated by the criminal branch.
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