Five teens including a minor were arrested on the charge of raping a 16-year-old girl in a village in Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharswan district, a police officer said on Thursday.
The five accused were arrested hours after the schoolgirl's parents lodged a complaint in this regard on Wednesday.
The victim had gone out for a stroll along with her boyfriend on November 6 evening to a football ground where another boy and a girl joined them. At around 8 pm, the victim started feeling cold and the two boys went home to bring a shawl, leaving the girls on the ground, according to the FIR.
At that time, five teenagers including a 16-year-old boy reached the spot and introduced themselves as friends of her boyfriend.
They asked the victim to come with them to a nearby river bank where, they claimed, her boyfriend was waiting. The youths, however, told the other girl to stay where she was.
After reaching the river bank, the youths took turns in raping her and then left.
Meanwhile, the two boys who returned with a shawl started searching for her and found her on the river bank, the police officer said.
The survivor stayed the night at his boyfriend's place, went to school from there the next day and returned home in the evening, according to the FIR.
"She told her parents what had happened and a complaint was lodged on Wednesday. We arrested the accused and started an investigation from all angles," the officer said.
The accused were charged with various sections of the IPC and POCSO Act.
Four of the accused who were in the age group of 19-20 were forwarded to judicial custody on Thursday while the minor boy was sent to a remand home.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
