11-Year-Old Girl In India Was Gang-Raped For Months By 17 Men Who Worked In Her Building
The girl was cycling around the building complex after school when she was first sexually assaulted.
By Katrina Khairul Azman — 18 Jul 2018, 01:06 PM
On Monday, 16 July, police in Chennai, India, arrested 17 men for allegedly raping an 11-year-old girl since January
However, some reports alleged that 22 men were involved in the crime.
According to CNN, the girl, who has a hearing disability, was sexually assaulted inside the largely unoccupied 300-unit apartment block she lives in.
The building's security guards, plumber, and lift operator were among those arrested, The Straits Times reported.
Police revealed that the 66-year-old lift operator was the first to assault the young girl when she was cycling around the building complex after school
He allegedly invited the other men and sedated the victim with injections and drug-laced soft drinks, Hindustan Times reported.
They took turns raping the 11-year-old in the building's basement, terrace, gym, and public restrooms and filmed the sexual acts.
The men also threatened the girl with knives and said that they would release videos of the acts if she told anyone.
However, the victim recently told her sister about the ordeal, and her family lodged a police complaint on Sunday. She has been referred to a government hospital for medical examination.
The men were arrested on charges of rape, attempted murder, and criminal intimidation under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO)
The men, aged between 23 and 66, were sent to judicial custody until 31 July.
A video of several lawyers beating up some of the suspects on the staircase of the Saidapet Mahila court has since gone viral, Hindustan Times reported.
In April, the Indian government approved stringent punishments for sexual violence against children, including the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls younger than 12 years old
The decision was a result of nationwide outrage over the rape and killing of an 8-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir and several other cases of sexual assault involving minors, SBS reported.