Woman gang-raped, killed in WB; gang-raped minor attempts suicide in Guj

A middle-aged woman was allegedly gang-raped and murdered in West Bengal while a minor girl in Gujarat was gang-raped which led her to attempt suicide, as a rash of rape cases were reported in the country today in which two village officials were among the arrested.

As the outrage over the death of the 23-year-old gang-rape victim in Delhi continued, there was a spurt in number of reported sexual assault cases in Punjab with many alleged victims coming forward with their complaints.

A man and his son were arrested for allegedly raping his teenaged daughter in Dombivili township of Thane district in Maharashtra while a 15-year-old dalit girl was allegedly raped and held captive for 15 days by three men in Dharauli village in Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

The two village officials were arrested in connection with two rape incidents in Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh.

In the incident at Jagannathpur in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas district, Police said the woman's son, Alafaz Ali, had filed an FIR last night at Barasat police station stating that his mother was gang-raped and murdered and his father was poisoned and seriously injured.

Additional Superintendent of Police Bhaskar Mukherjee said the body of the 45-year old woman was found near a brick kiln last evening bearing sharp wounds on the head.

The incident occured when the woman went to look for her husband, a brick-kiln worker last evening. Six persons allegedly assaulted her, Mukherjee said.

Meanwhile, her husband returned home and went to look for his wife when he heard her cry for help and was in turn assaulted and forcibly made to consume some poisonous substance, he said.

The victim and her husband were rushed to Barasat State General hospital where the woman died

Police arrested one person today and detained eight others for interrogation.

In Gujarat, a minor gang-rape victim allegedly attempted suicide by consuming poison at her residence today, police said. The 14-year-old girl's condition is critical and she has been put on ventilator, they said.

Police said the minor was kidnapped in a car from Dholka town in Ahmedabad district and raped by two persons on December 6, following which her family members registered FIR on December 14.

"The girl had been complaining to her father of acute stomach pain for the past two days. Unable to bear it any longer, she mixed pesticide with water and drank it early morning today. She was immediately taken to a private hospital in the village before being brought to VS Hospital in city," Dholka police inspector BD Thakkar told reporters.

He said the girl has been put on ventilator and kept in the Trauma Centre. "Her condition is critical because she is physically very weak," Thakkar said.

A search is on to trace the accused duo who are on the run since the incident, the officer said.

A Village Revenue Officer (VRO) of Nandivada in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh has been arrested for allegedly raping his colleague, police said.

B Pandu was arrested after a rape case was registered against him last evening, it said.

The victim had joined his office as his assistant around four months back, it added.

According to police, Pandu once offered her a spiked soft drink, following which she fell unconscious. He then took her objectionable pictures and black-mailed her to have physical relationship with him.

The woman lodged a complaint with the police yesterday and a case under sections 376 and 506 of the IPC have been registered against the accused and the investigation is on.

At least five persons were arrested for allegedly raping a tribal woman in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district, police said.

"Five people have been booked under section 376(g) (gang rape) by Pakhanjur police station yesterday," Superintendent of Police Rahul Bhagat told PTI.

The accused include a village sarpanch. According to the woman, she was raped by the accused at Alor village (over 250km from Raipur) on December 23.

Two days later she went to the government hospital in Pakhanjur where the doctors informed the police that a woman, brutally assaulted, had been admitted.

However, the SP said, the medical report of the government hospital was silent on rape. Next day, the victim herself went to a private hospital, where she told the doctors about the rape.