Horror as girl, 15, gang raped by 6 men behind bakery – homes raided by police

A 15-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by five men behind a bakery on Tuesday evening before being molested by another man in a separate attack. The main accused and four associates allegedly lured the child to an isolated plot in Mumbai, India, before assaulting her on the days between October 27 and 28, police said. After the assault in the Powai area, the accused then threatened to circulate photographs on social media if she told either her family or the police.

In a separate but related incident, the girl was allegedly intercepted, molested and sexually harassed near a pipeline in Powai, officials said.

The girl bravely came forward to the Powai Police Station on the morning of October 29 with the help of her family. Police launched an immediate manhunt and arrested all accused within 24 hours of the alleged incident following property raids. Police said none of the accused had a previous criminal record, reports The Statesman.

“Within just 24 hours of receiving the victim’s complaint, Mumbai Police teams conducted raids at various locations and apprehended all the accused,” officials said, as per the INAS report.

Police said that "recognising the gravity of the situation", officers immediately registered a report under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which relates to serious sexual offences.

Additionally, charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) were invoked. The legislation was introduced in 2012 to safeguard individuals under the age of 18 from sexual assault and sexual harassment.

“A thorough investigation into the case is currently underway under the supervision of senior police personnel,” officials said. The victim was sent to Mumbai’s KEM Hospital for a medical examination.

Tougher rape laws were introduced in India over the past decade following the horrific gang rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student in 2012 in Delhi, who tragically died from her injuries. Perpetrators can be sentenced to the death penalty in severe cases, and special courts were established to ensure faster trials for certain reports.

However, campaigners say that little has changed. Yogita Bhayana told the BBC "we have learnt no lessons" in June this year after a 28-year-old mother of four said she was gang-raped in her own home by a group of men who allegedly inserted objects into her. Bhayana warned that "fear has not been installed in society".

Protests also recently erupted in Delhi after successive rape cases, including the alleged gang-rape of a 17-year-old in a public park by three men who posed as police officers.