‘Come, I’ll drop you’: 15-year-old on way to home from UP village fair gang-raped by 3 men

AGRA: A 15-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped and gang-raped by three men while she was returning home from a village fair in Etah district, police said on Monday.

The main accused was arrested on Sunday, and legal proceedings are underway, said police.

Inspector Sanjaypal Singh said the arrested accused was sent to judicial custody. "Efforts are on to arrest the other two accused," Singh said.

According to the FIR lodged by the victim's mother, the minor girl had gone to a local fair with her friends around 7 pm on March 27. While the other girls returned home around 9 pm, the survivor did not.

When the concerned family called her on the mobile phone, she told her mother that a man from their village took her along on the pretext of dropping her at home. He then took her to a deserted place near a canal, where two of his associates were present. The three then allegedly raped her.

A case was registered under Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) sections 70(2) (gang rape) and 137(2) (kidnapping), along with sections of Pocso Act. The survivor was sent for medical examination.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)