An 18-year-old woman in India has bravely spoken out to accuse 64 men of sexually abusing her over a period of five years.
Police have arrested 28 people in connection with the horrific campaign of abuse in Kerala state, said to date back to when the victim was just 13.
Authorities told the BBC that the accused are aged between 17 and 47, and include the victim’s neighbours, sports teachers and friends of her father.
The victim was allegedly molested by a neighbour at the age of 13, who later shared recorded videos of the abuse with others who continued to abuse her.
Authorities told the broadcaster she had been gangraped three times in the past five years, after the victim sought help and spoke to psychologists.
The harrowing ordeal came to light when the victim, a district-level athlete, met with volunteers of the Kerala Mahila Samakhya Society, helping women in rural areas.
The allegations were relayed to the Child Welfare Committee. A lawyer for the group said that sports camps attended by the young athlete could have facilitated abuse.
The teenager’s family were unaware of the alleged abuse, an official with the CWC told local media.
Demonstrators decry violence against women during a march in Kolkata on August 14, 2024
The victim was recently directed to a psychologist who has been trying to ‘ascertain the credibility of her allegations’ as police continue their probe.
They say she never spoke to her mother about the alleged abuse.
The CWC has since moved her to a shelter for her protection, with the investigation ongoing.
Officials said they looked through the girl’s father’s phone, which they understand she had access to.
On the device they say they found the names of some of the men accused of abusing the victim, who has not been named.
Police are now using the phone to trace the accused, with dozens still accused of heinous crimes still to be apprehended.
‘Once the probe progresses, the chances of involvement of more people cannot be ruled out,’ Advocate N Rajeev, who heads the Pathanamthitta Child Welfare Committee, told Indian Express.
A team of 25 has been put together to run the investigation.
Those already booked were held under various sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, the outlet reports.
The law exists to protect people from lower castes and tribes in India from crimes of discrimination.
The victim has been identified as a Dalit, a member of an Indian caste at the bottom of the social hierarchy, often subjected to discrimination in spite of legal protections.
The story has stirred audiences in India, already acutely aware of the problem of violence against women.
Just last week, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arraigned the parents of two girls believed to have taken their own lives after allegedly being subjected to abuse.
A child pictured during a vigil condemning the rape and murder of a trainee medic at a government-run hospital in Kolkata, on a street in Mumbai, India, on August 14
The parents in Palakkad were accused of abetting sexual abuse and suicide, a chargesheet claiming they were aware of the abuse suffered by the girls but did nothing to report it to police.
The girls, aged 9 and 13, were found dead from hanging at their home in 2017 after allegedly being subjected to abuse over several months by five persons, including another child.
Four people, including two relatives, were acquitted in 2019 as the court ruled there was no scientific evidence to link them to the offences.
Two of the four later died by suicide, Indian Express reports.
An investigation found the accused had easy access to the family home.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
