Girl says five persons raped her

AHMEDABAD: The learning-impaired teenage girl, who is recovering from rape and multiple unnatural sexual assaults, has communicated to cops that she was repeatedly raped by five persons. Police have identified four people who allegedly have a role in the brutalization of the girl.
Police sources said that on the basis of the girl’s inputs, communicated in broken words and gestures, they have sent teams to Deesa and Palanpur and certain photographs have been collected.
“These pictures could lead us to the culprits in this heinous crime. We have identified four accused, including a woman responsible for brutality inflicted on the teenager and have dispatched teams to nab them,” a senior crime branch official said.
Meanwhile, the state government has taken a serious cognisance of the alleged laxities and negligence by NGOs and hospitals in tending to the girl. “An inquiry has been ordered into the alleged apathy by various agencies in this case. Not only the NGOs, but the role of the public hospitals will also be probed, to see if there were acts of omission in performing their duties in this case,” said Atmaram Parmar, minister for social justice and empowerment.
Senior crime branch officials said the probe revealed that the girl’s assailants were known to her. “She was raped and discarded by the roadside in Ahmedabad. We have obtained CCTV footage of the place where the girl was dumped,” a senior police official said.
According to sources, cops are also questioning volunteers of different NGOs and women’s shelters, who allegedly rejected the girl due to her medical condition.
“We are taking details from the complainant, Mahnoor Saiyed, who spotted the girl in tattered clothes at the roadside near Civil Hospital.
Saiyed alleged that she had recently come under pressure from Childline and certain policemen, to not speak to the girl directly. Childline has denied these allegations.
The teenager was first admitted to Civil Hospital by a volunteer of Childline on December 28. “Civil authorities claimed that she escaped from the hospital and was later found by Saiyed outside it. We are also asking Childline authorities why no worker of theirs was deployed at Civil Hospital,” said a senior crime branch official.