In another shocking incident of sexual crime, a 11-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by five teenagers, in the outskirts of Guwahati, Assam, on Sunday.
The five accused, which are currently in police custody, are said to be aged between 15 and 16. A bone marrow test will soon be conducted on the accused to find their exact age, said police.
The girl had been playing outside her house with the boys on Sunday afternoon, when they lured her to an abandoned house nearby. She was allegedly raped throughout the night.
The next day, the girl informed her parents and a police complaint was filed. The accused are currently held in an observation home in Guwahati.
"The minor's mother is illiterate and poor," said a police official who did not want to be named. "The suspects have admitted they were sniffing an intoxicative glue before the crime," a police official told Hindustan Times.
The incident, a grim reminder of the 16 December Delhi gang-rape incident, came close on the heels of another rape attempt in the state on the same day, where an army jawan allegedly tried to rape a woman while on board a moving train.
The incident happened in an air-conditioned coach of the Guwahati-Ledo Inter City Express. The accused has been arrested by the railway police.
According to state home department records, Assam has reported around 800 cases of rape incidents in just seven months and the crime rate is escalating despite the government's assurances to provide security to women.
In July last year, a girl was openly molested on the streets of Guwahati by over 40 people. The incident sparked outrage across the nation and ushered in demands for stricter laws against offenders and improved security.
