Four girls and a married woman who were engaged in anti-human trafficking campaigns were allegedly abducted and gang-raped in Khunti district of Jharkhand by armed men earlier this week.
“The survivors, engaged with an NGO supported by Christian missionary, were abducted by motorcycle-borne armed men while they were performing a street play at RC Mission School in Khunti’s Kochang block, about 90 km from Ranchi, on Tuesday afternoon,” said Ranchi range deputy inspector general (DIG) AV Homkar.
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“They were forced to sit inside cars, taken to a nearby secluded place and raped,” he added. “The perpetrators, who are Pathalgadi supporters, released the girls after three hours,” he said.
Pathalgadi is a practice adopted by several tribal villages in Jharkhand to declare their gram sabha as the only sovereign authority, rejecting the authority of central or state government.
The abductors made videos of the incident and threatened the girls that if they’ll say anything, the abductors will viral their videos.
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“Three separate teams have been constituted to nab the criminals, some of them have been identified. Raids are on at suspected locations,” Homkar said refusing to divulge any further details.
“A medical board has been constituted to examine the victims. The two sisters, associated with the Christian missionary accompanying the girls, were not subjected to any crime. They were released safely,” said Khunti SP Ashwini Sinha.