A 25-year-old student of a law university in Ranchi was allegedly gang-raped on gunpoint by 12 locals, while she was interacting with a male friend on Ring Road in Kanke area, police said on Thursday. The girl shared her ordeals with the police on Wednesday and lodged a First Information Report (FIR) with Kanke Police Station.
In her statement to the police, she said that the perpetrators overpowered her friend and dragged her to a brick kiln a few meters off Ring Road, where they took turns to outrage her modesty. Her friend is a witness in the case. The police on Wednesday arrested the 12 accused in connection with the case and recovered one 7.62mm pistol, two magazines, two live cartridges, one country-made pistol, eight mobile phones, a car and a motorcycle from their possession.
All accused are in the age bracket of 18 years to 30 years, said Ranchi Superintendent of Police (Rural) Rishabh Kumar Jha, adding that most of the accused were smalltime businessmen and labourers from villages in the outskirts of the State capital.
“As per her statement, she was with her friend on Ring Road at around 5.30 pm on Tuesday when the locals pointed guns at them and perpetrated the crime,” said Jha, adding that police have also recovered mobile phone of the law student from the possession of the arrested men.
Jharkhand is set to go to polls on November 30, and the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is enforced across the State. The incident, which raises questions on women’s safety in State, is likely to become a major election issue here. Police on Wednesday said that there were no checkposts in the area where the incident occurred. The crime scene, they said, is in Sangrampur village, a few-minute drive from the National University of Study and Research in Law (NUSRL).
Responding to questions from media persons regarding the nature of crime and why the complainant preferred a secluded location to meet her friend, the SSP said, “Moral policing is not our job. It does not matter what the girl was doing there. A major crime has happened and we will ensure that all the perpetrators are convicted.”
The complainant, he said, is medically stable and has not suffered any major injury during the heinous assault. All the 12 accused, he added, are residents of Sangrampur village under Kanke Police Station. They have been sent to judicial custody.
