Police have arrested 14 people in connection with the gang-rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in Jharkhand’s Chatra district. According to media report, 6 accused are still on run.
“So far, 14 persons involved in the incident have been arrested since last night,” Deputy Commissioner of Chatra Jitendra Kumar Singh told PTI.
A massive hunt was on to nab six others, including the main accused, Dhanu Bhuiyan, he said, while exuding confidence that all of them would be arrested soon.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das strongly condemned the incident.
In a statement, Das said he was shocked over the gruesome incident and added that there was no place in the society for such ghastly acts.
The minor girl was allegedly gangraped by five people last week, after which she was burnt to death.
According to media report, Panchayat’s chief along with a member is being questioned by the police in the matter.
Five people, reportedly, abducted the girl last week when she was on her way to attend a relative’s marriage ceremony. She was taken to a forest, where she was gang-raped.
On Friday morning, the issue was raised in the village panchayat and the accused were asked to pay Rs 50,000 to the victim to settle the matter. Some of the media reports suggest that in addition to the cash penalty, the accused were made to do sit-ups.
Enraged over the panchayat’s decision, all the accused men went to the house of the girl and thrashed the family members and burnt her to death. A case was registered at the Itkhori police station.
(With agency inputs)