A 28-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by seven men and forced to move $On Tuesday, police said she received $10,000 while she was out with her boyfriend near Silchar in Assam’s Cachar district.
A senior officer said that the woman filed a complaint about the incident that took place on February 19, following which a case was registered at Silchar Sadar police station, news agency PTI reported. The survivor identified two of the defendants, and they have since been arrested. Police said efforts are underway to trace and arrest the remaining suspects.
“They raped her one by one.”
The survivor’s family members claimed that she and her boyfriend were inside a car on the bypass road, a few kilometers from Silchar town, when a group of men arrived in an SUV and confronted them.
The agency’s report said: “They first asked the couple about their whereabouts, then suddenly they grabbed the woman and her friend. There were about 7 men, and they raped her one by one in front of her friend,” they claimed.
“The mandatory medical examination was conducted and her statement was also recorded,” the officer said.
The report added that the police initially remained silent on the issue, but the case received wider attention on Tuesday after a Silchar-based journalist alleged that he was attacked by relatives of one of the accused.
The journalist claimed that he was stopped near the National Highway Police Station, questioned about why he reported the incident, and was assaulted. He claimed that passers-by intervened and saved him. A complaint was also lodged in this regard and police said one person has been arrested.
A senior police officer appealed to the public not to spread misinformation on social media and urged restraint during the investigation.
blackmail $10,000
In her complaint, the woman alleged that at least seven unknown men raped her one after another in front of her boyfriend. She further alleged that the accused forced her to transfer $10,000 to one of the men’s bank account before fleeing.
The FIR has been lodged under several provisions of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita Act, including sections relating to gang rape, extortion by threat of death, banditry, criminal intimidation, unlawful assembly, criminal force against a woman with intent to remove her clothes, and acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman.
Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dave sought strict action in the case and said she had met the Superintendent of Police in Cachar to get updates.
“I have met SP Cachar District to get an update on the action taken, there should be no attempt to cover up this issue. @AITC4Assam will not tolerate this. Waiting for the medical report, I am told,” the Trinamool Congress MP said.
