4 Cops Among Those Accused of Rape & Trafficking of 15-Yr-Old Girl

The minor was allegedly trafficked and sold by family members and recalls being raped by 8 men in a night.

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(Photo: AP)

Four cops, possibly from different states, are among those believed to have raped and and trafficked a 15-year-old girl from Jamshedpur, according to a report by the Hindustan Times.

The alleged crimes took place in Jharsuguda in Odisha and Chhattisgarh’s Raipur and according to sources in the East Singhbhum Child Welfare Committee (CWC), in whose custody the minor is presently in, she has been able to identify four of her rapists as policemen because of their uniforms and photographs in the houses she was taken to by her captors. However, no cops figure in the list of suspects in the CWC complaint.

An FIR was lodged on Wednesday, 15 May, in Jamshedpur while the girl was rescued on 7 May from the Jugsalai area in the city and handed over to the East Singhbhum CWC.

“We have lodged an FIR as per a complaint filed by the East Singhbhum Child Welfare Committee. We are getting the minor victim’s medical tests done and her statement recorded in a court under section 164 of CrPc. The accused, including her relatives, and some persons in the city, will be arrested soon. She was taken to Jharsuguda and Raipur and was allegedly traded for sex, yet we took the initiative to lodge a case here. We are sending police teams to both the states.”

Jamshedpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Anoop Birthare told <i>HT</i>

Minor Abused as Sex Slave: CWC

As per the CWC complaint, Bagbera police are said to have recovered the girl from a hotel in the Jugsalai area on 7 May and allegedly handed over to the East Singhbhum CWC.

“But the girl told us that she was handed over to the police by local people. She said that she was brought to the hotel by a woman who was released by Bagbera police. According to survivor, the woman was to take her to Khargapur for sex trade,” reads the CWC complaint.

According to HT, the complaint also states that she was raped by eight people continuously in a single night, also detailing that she was forced into the sex trade by her elder sister and another couple. An FIR has been lodged at the Telco police station.

The victim was an orphan living with her elder sister in Baghbera with another sister in Kolkata. She was allegedly sold by her second sister to a family in Kolkata. She ran away from there and was caught and handed over to the Kolkata CWC, reported HT.

“She stayed in a children’s home in Kolkata, from where she was transferred to Ranchi CWC, and then to Jamshedpur CWC. At that time, it was found that her elder sister had shifted to some other place. [The victim] was then kept in the MTWT home, but just before Durga Puja last year, the elder sister came and asked Jamshedpur CWC to hand her over to [her family],” said a CWC source to Hindustan Times.

(With inputs from the Hindustan Times)