17-year-old gets gang raped for not paying loan of Rs 1,500

A day after being arrested, two men — accused of gang raping a 17-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Muradnagar — were on Friday produced before a Ghaziabad court. A minor was also apprehended in the case. The two men, identified by the state police as Zahid and Mohan Pal said that they committed the crime because the girl was not returning Rs 1,500, which she had borrowed from them. According to the police, the incident took place on Wednesday when the girl was returning home on her bicycle from a photocopy shop in the neighbourhood. The three accused, including a minor boy, met her midway, took her to an isolated place and then raped her. At the press conference at police lines, Zahid, the prime accused, said, “We asked her for the money several times. She repeatedly sought more time but we declined. We pulled her to the fields and took turns to rape her. Meanwhile, the minor boy kept sitting on the roadside with her bicycle, keeping watch.” He said, “She had taken the money for a festival. I borrowed Rs 500 from Mohan Pal and further arranged Rs 1,000 from others. The minor who was with us during the incident was not involved in the gangrape. However, he kept a watch.” They said the girl resisted but they threatened her not to disclose the incident to anyone. -PTC News