In a shocking incident, a seven-year old girl was gang raped by six adolescent boys in a village under Sadar police station of Kendrapara district of Odisha on Monday evening. All the accused were arrested and remanded to the Observation Home at Angul by the Kendrapara Juvenile Justice Board on Wednesday.
The victim, a Class three student, was returning home after playing with her friends when she was forcibly taken to a deserted place by the accused before taking turns on her.
The boys beat up the girl after the sexual assault and threatened her with dire consequence if reported the matter to anyone. However, the girl, later, confided the matter to her mother, who lodged a complaint with the police naming all the six offenders, the police said citing the FIR registered by them in the case.
The juvenile delinquents are aged between 10 to 14 years. During questioning, they reportedly confessed to the crime. They were booked under Section 376D (gang rape) of IPC and section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act, 2012.
An officer who is investigating the case, Jyotimayee Sethi, said, “The victim girl and the guilty of the crime were medically examined at the district headquarters hospital at Kendrapara. After prima facie evidence was established, the juvenile delinquents were produced before the Juvenile Justice Board.”