5 Activists in Jharkhand gang-raped, Allegedly at Gunpoint

Mangalore Today News Network

Patna, Jun 22, 2018 : Five women from a non-profit conducting an awareness campaign in Jharkhand have been abducted and gang-raped at gunpoint. The men accompanying them have been thrashed. The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon at Kochang, around 50 km from state capital Ranchi, where the 11-member team had gone to hold a street play against human trafficking.

 

As the performance was in progress, a group of armed men came on bikes, beat up the men and took away the women at gunpoint. They were released in the jungle three hours later. The two nuns who had accompanied the women, however, were released unharmed.

The police have also confirmed that the rapists made a video and used it to threaten the women with exposure if they complained.

The women did not inform the administration about the incident.They got the information from sources, reported news agency Press Trust of India, quoting local police officer Ashwini Kumar Sinha.

The police have detained nine persons for questioning. Medical examination has confirmed rape and a case has been filed. A medical board has also been formed, the police said. Mr Sinha said three teams have been formed to investigate the matter and arrest the culprits.

Reports from the area say the men involved are supporters of Pathalgadi - a tribal system under which the people govern themselves according to the tribe’s rules and do not recognize the state’s authority. They argue that the Constitution has given them the right to practice their own systems.


The name pathalgadi is related to the huge stone slabs inscribed with ancestral names that are preserved by the villagers.

Outsiders, including the police and government officials, are not allowed in these villages without permission.


courtesy:NDTV