The Coimbatore city police are searching for two men who raped a 17-year-old girl in a park in Seeranaickenpalayam area on 26 November.
The 17-year-old girl is a Class 11 student at a school in Coimbatore. “On 26 November, she wanted to celebrate her birthday with her boyfriend. The couple went to a park near Seeranaickenpalayam where they bumped into six men. The men first attacked the boyfriend, stripped him and videographed him. They then chased him away,” a police officer said.
The gang’s attention then turned to the teen girl. They allegedly told her to strip, which she refused to do. “When she refused, they hit her and made her lie down on the ground and videographed her.
“When she again refused to strip, two men in that group raped her and others took pictures and videos of the act,” the officer added. The girl then went to her cousin’s place and stayed there for two days, then filed a complaint with the police on 28 November.
Four men were arrested on Saturday, identified as Rahul, Prakash, Karthikeyan and Narayanamoorthy, all aged between 22 and 25 years. They have been remanded to judicial custody.
The two men who raped the girl have not yet been caught, and the Coimbatore City police have formed special teams to nab them.
The police registered an FIR under sections 5(u) (Penetrative sexual assault in a child and making the child parade naked in public), 6 (Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault), 9(g) (Punishment for gang sexual assault), 10 (Punishment for aggravated sexual assault), 13 (Using child in media for sexual gratification), 14 (Using child for pornographic purposes) and 17 (Abetment of POCSO offence) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
(With inputs from Sudhakar Balasundaram and The NewsMinute)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)