16-year-old girl gangraped by five in forest in Odisha’s Ganjam

Berhampur (Odisha): A 16-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped by five people, including a cousin, for over a week in a forest in Odisha’s Ganjam district, police said on Tuesday.

The girl along with her father gave a detailed account of her ordeal to Ganjam superintendent of police Ashish Singh in writing on Tuesday, nine days after returning home.

She told police that she did not go to the local police station out of fear and approached the SP to lodge the complaint.

According to the complaint, the girl was forcibly kidnapped by one of the accused from her house on March 9 midnight when she was sleeping.

The four others, who were waiting outside, blindfolded her and took her into the nearby jungle and repeatedly raped for nine days before leaving her on March 18, police said.

Her tormentors also threatened her not to disclose the matter to anyone. After returning from the jungle, she narrated the incident to her parents and decided to lodge a complaint to the SP.

The girl said the accused abducted and raped her due to political rivalry during the recent panchayat election, as her father had supported a particular candidate.

”We have asked the sub divisional police officer of Chikiti to investigate into the complaint,“ Singh said.

Police said the accused have been identified and would be caught soon.

Chikiti police official Prakash Chandra Jena said the girl’s family members did not intimate the police about her going missing or being kidnapped during the period between March 9 and March 18. “We will send the girl for medical examination,” he said.