11 December,2013 06:35 AM IST | | Shiva Devnath
A horrifying case of rape of a minor emerged yesterday when a 17-year-old girl alleged she was gang-raped by nine men from January to October this year. According to the FIR lodged by the Andheri police, the girl had said nine men were involved in the crime, of which she had named six. The case was then transferred to Borivli police station, as the incident had occurred in their jurisdiction.
Delivered and held
On November 30, the Andheri police had found a newborn baby girl abandoned near a housing society. On enquiries, a resident of the building informed the cops that his domestic help had been pregnant and he had found blood in the bathroom, indicating that she might've given birth and had abandoned the child. The police then arrested the girl on December 4 and sent her to Byculla jail under Section 317 (abandonment of child under 12 years of age), not knowing that the girl was a minor.
The next day, the girl complained of stomach pain and was sent to JJ Hospital, where it was revealed that she had recently delivered. The girl then narrated that she had been raped by nine men within a period of 10 months. The Byculla jail authorities informed the Andheri police, who registered a case of gang rape against nine men.
"The Andheri police did not investigate the case. Only on the basis of the girl's allegations, they registered a case of gang rape," said Mahesh Patil, deputy commissioner of police (Zone XI). The case was transferred to Borivli police station on December 8. Based on the FIR, the officers arrested Rahul Solanki (27) and Tushar Nimbalkar (25), who are residents of Gorai in Borivli (West). They presented the men in court and arrested three others in connection with the case.
Not gang rape?
However, cops believe it may not be a case of gang rape, as registered by the survivor. Their investigations have revealed that the girl may actually have been raped on different occasions by different men. "We believe these were five different rapes on five different occasions, and will now be registering five different FIRs," Patil told MiD DAY. The men who have been arrested are the five accused. Police will also conduct a DNA test to find out who the father of the abandoned child is. Meanwhile, the child is in the care of Bhagwati Hospital at Borivli.
The incident
The girl said that in January, she had gone near a BMC school in the Dongri area of Borivli with her boyfriend where two of the nine men intercepted them. They threatened the boyfriend and took turns in raping the girl. Later, they raped her on different occasions by threatening to tell her family about her relationship.u00a0
