Five boys allegedly raped an eight-year-old girl from their neighbourhood when her parents were not at home, the police said on Tuesday, 17 April. The incident happened in Sahaspur, around 25 km from Dehradun.
During questioning by police, the boys, aged between nine and 14 years, said they had watched pornography on a mobile phone two days before committing the crime, a police official said.
The incident allegedly took place on 12 July, but came to light late on Saturday evening when the victim's parents reported the matter to the police.
The accused boys were detained and remanded to a juvenile home by Chief Magistrate of Juvenile Justice Board Bhavdeep Rawat.
According to the police official, the girl was playing outside her house when the boys lured her into an empty house, which belonged to one of the accused, by offering her chocolates and gang raped her.
The girl's parents were not home when the incident took place. They got suspicious when their kid did not have dinner and was unusually quiet. When prodded by her mother, the girl narrated the entire ordeal, the police said.
Expressing shock over the incident, Rawat said it was an indication of the dangerous consequences of free access to the Internet and advised parents to keep mobile phones out of the reach of children.
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