With the arrest of one more accused in the Dombivali gang rape case, the police have arrested all the 33 accused, including 2 minors. The two minors have been sent to juvenile home in Bhiwandi town.
As per the police, a 15-year old girl was gang-raped multiple times over the period of eight months between January 29 and September 22. The sexual assault took place in different locations including Dombivli, Badlapur, Murbad, and Rabale. The victim was hospitalised and her condition is stable now.
Main Accused Known To Victim
The survivor knew the main accused since 2014. They met on Instagram and started meeting. As per the police, the main accused raped her and made a video of the incident. He started blackmailing her into meeting more of his friends.
“The main accused threatened the girl saying he will make the video viral if she does not cooperate and called her to various places in the Thane district — Dombivli, Badlapur, Murbad, Rabale — where the accused would rape her and make videos,” the police stated.
“The girl comes from a modest background and lives in a building in Dombivali East. Her father is a worker in a company and mother is at home. The girl was studying in the ninth standard and had online school because of the pandemic. Her father would leave his mobile phone with her during the day so that she can attend her online classes. That is when she accessed social media sites and started talking regularly to the main accused,” said an MLC.
As per the victim’s complaint, the Manpada police in Dombivali registered an FIR against 29 men. Four days later, the complainant named four more persons. All the accused are between 16 to 23 years of age.
The police have booked them under Section 376 (rape), Section 376 (n) (repeated rape), Section 376 (d) (gang-rape), Section 376 (3) (rape on a woman under sixteen years of age) of Indian Penal Code and also under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
