6 held for gang-raping minor from Palampur

Our Correspondent

Palampur, August 5

The police have arrested six persons in connection with the gang-rape of a minor girl belonging to a remote village in the Sulaha constituency of Palampur.

On July 4, the girl was allegedly gang-raped and a video was made of the incident to blackmail her.

She was on her way to Nagrota Bagwan along with her friend. They were stopped by six persons in a forest. Her friend was beaten up and the girl was dragged to a nearby forest where she was raped by the accused. One of the accused made a video on his mobile phone.

Later, they threatened that they would upload the video on social media platforms if she told anyone about the incident.

The victim was scared and under trauma for a month and did not tell anyone about the incident. However, two days ago, one of the accused sent the video to his friend who made it viral on a social media platform.

Later, the victim disclosed the entire incident to her parents who immediately reported the matter to the police.

SHO, Nagrota Bagwan, Sham Lal swung into action and arrested all six accused from nearby villages within hours. The key accused and the mastermind behind the crime is a 42-year-old married man with children.

The police have also seized mobile phones and vehicles used by for the crime. The police produced the accused in the court yesterday which sent them on police remand till August 7.

The SHO said the accused had been booked under Sections 376, 341, 354, 506 and 34 of the IPC, besides various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO ), 2012 .

The incident rocked the area as it is a peaceful region of the state where most people are law-abiding.

Vipan Singh Parmar, Speaker of the Assembly and MLA from Sulaha, demanded stringent punishment for the accused. He said the guilty should not be spared.

Video goes viral

• The girl was allegedly gang-raped on July 4 and a video was made of the incident to blackmail her.
• Two days ago, one of the accused sent the video to his friend who made it viral on a social media platform.
• Later, the victim disclosed the entire incident to her parents, who reported the matter to the police.
• The key accused and the mastermind behind the crime is a 42-year-old married man.