19-Year-Old Woman Gangraped in Chhattisgarh's Balrampur; Minor Among 3 Held

Three persons, including a minor, allegedly raped a 19-year-old woman in Chhattisgarh's Balrampur district, police said on Tuesday.

All three accused have been apprehended, they said.

The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon in the Kotrahi forest under the Wadrafnagar police outpost jurisdiction when the victim was passing through the area with a male relative, Sub Divisional Officer of Police Ramavtar Dhruv said.

The victim and her relative were walking from Wadrafnagar to Kotrahi. Two men riding a motorcycle intercepted them near a rivulet. After questioning the duo, the accused threatened them and forced them to move deeper into the forest, he said.

The attackers then tied the relative's hands and feet to a tree. The two men subsequently called a third accomplice to the spot and raped the woman in front of her relative. Following the assault, all three perpetrators fled the scene, the official said.

The victim and her relative later managed to reach Wadrafnagar and lodged a complaint at the local police outpost, he said.On Monday, the police arrested two of the accused, identified as Suraj Kumar Kushwaha (30) and Mukesh Kushwaha (25), both residents of Kotrahi. The third accused, a 16-year-old boy, was also detained, he said.

All three individuals were produced before a local court, which remanded the two men to judicial custody in Ramanujganj, while the minor was sent to a juvenile correctional home, he added.

Further investigation into the case is underway, the police said.