16-Year-Old Gang-Raped By Classmate, Cousin, On Way Back From School

An 11th grade student was gang-raped on her way back from school, in Noida, India.

The victim — an unidentified 16-year-old girl — had missed her school bus on April 18, and was walking home from school around 2:30 p.m. local time (5 a.m. EDT) when her classmate, along with two other individuals offered to give her a ride in their car.

After the victim agreed to ride along with the three suspects, she told the police, she was gagged and raped. After that she was allegedly forced to drink something laced with sedatives, which knocked her unconscious. After driving around for a few hours, she was dumped at the side of a deserted road, where she was found by the police at 2 a.m. local time, Thursday, (4:30 p.m. EDT, Wednesday) when they began looking for her, still unconscious.

After she failed to make her way back to her home, the victim’s parents got in touch with the police. “The girl’s parents approached the police around 9 p.m. They said their daughter travelled from her school in Kasna by the school bus and generally reached home by 3 p.m. When she failed to return by the evening that day, they got extremely worried,” Ram Bhawan Singh, station house officer (SHO), Greater Noida police station, said, the Hindustan Times reported.

"We received information from the girl's father that on April 18, she could not be found and based on his statement a First Information Report was filed against three people. We have caught the main accused and another youth, while a third one is still on the run," said Awneesh Kumar, a senior police officer, NDTV reported.

According to some local reports, one of three suspects involved in the incident was a distant cousin of the victim. The third accused was not known to the victim and was not identified by the police.

The victim received proper the medical attention immediately after being found, and her condition was not critical. “She was taken to a nearby hospital and discharged after first aid. Based on a complaint by her father and her statement, a case under Section 376D [gang-rape] of IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act has been registered,” said a senior officer, the Hindu reported.

However, what made it difficult for the police to conduct their investigation was the fact that the victim kept changing her account of the events. “She has given different statements to the doctor, the Magistrate and the police. We are verifying the allegations,” said a senior officer.

This incident comes amid nationwide anger over child rapes this year, after a gang-rape, torture and murder of an eight-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua in the first week of January.

On Tuesday, the gang-rape of a 13-year-old was reported in Haryana’s Yamuna Nagar, near a temple. The victim had gone to a clinic in her village to get some medicine when she was allegedly confined by a doctor in his clinic for three days and raped.