Police in north India say they have detained 15 suspects after a woman and her teenage daughter were gang-raped off a busy highway in UP on Friday night.
Top officials were rushed into Bulandshahr, where a woman and her daughter were raped by a gang of robbers when the Noida-based family was travelling on the Delhi-Kanpur National Highway 91from their Sector 68 home after midnight to attend the terahnvi (rituals held 13 days after a death) of a relative.
Also read: 15 People Detained Over Mother-Daughter Gangrape in Bulandshahr
Just as the family was nearing Dostpur village, the robbers flung an iron rod at their car, and the driver pressed the brakes and got down to assess the damages. This was when the robbers emerged from the bushes and took the family at gunpoint.
Senior local police official Daljeet Choudhary said several police teams were at work to ensure that the attackers were identified quickly. 15 suspects have been detained and are being questioned, and Vaibhav Krishna, SSP Bulandshahr says the main accused has reportedly been identified.
While talking to the press, the UP DGP also said that three of the accused had been identified by the family.
Reports suggest that the perpetrators belong to a nomadic criminal tribe, that flees states after each robbery.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has given a deadline of “24 hours” to SSP Bulandshahr to crack the case while also directing disciplinary action against policemen of the nearest thana, who did not reach the crime spot on time.
The case has also gathered a lot of heat as the state of UP goes to polls in 2017, and opposition parties have criticised the current SP government saying “goonda raj” has been at its peak in Uttar Pradesh and that governance had collapsed ever since the party came to power.
The woman, her daughter and the three male relatives were also robbed of their money, jewellery and their cellphones.
(Video editing by Prashant Bharadwaj)
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