Girl, 17, is kidnapped and gang-raped for 22 days on Indian farm after being abducted when she ran away from home following an argument with parents
- The girl ran away from her parents last month following a family argument
- She was waiting to board a bus in the eastern city of Cuttack to return home
- A man offered her a lift but instead took her to a poultry farm in a remote village
- There he locked her in a room 22 days and he and a friend raped her repeatedly
A 17-year-old girl was kidnapped and repeatedly gang-raped over a 22-day period on a farm in India.
The girl, who had run away from home after an argument with her parents last month, was waiting for a bus in the eastern city of Cuttack to return to her family when a man offered her a lift home on his motorbike.
Instead of taking her home Santosh Behera drove her to a poultry farm in a remote village, where he locked her in a room and the abuse began.
The girl was shut away for 22 days and raped repeatedly by two men, NDTV reports.
The suspect allegedly filmed himself and his friend assaulting the teenager and threatened to post the video on social media or kill her if she tried to escape, according to the Hindustan Times.
Indians protest against rape and sexual violence in December following the case of a 27-year-old vet who was gang-raped and murdered in Hyderabad
She was eventually rescued by police on Monday, who were tipped off by locals who suspected illegal activity at the property.
A police official told NDTV that one of the men was arrested but the second remains at large, adding that a manhunt has been launched to catch him.
The 17-year-old, who is said to be in a poor physical state and psychologically scarred, was sent to an orphanage after meeting with social services.
The girl had initially run away from home to live with her sister in Cuttack, unable to bear her father’s abuse, Hindustan Times reports. It was her brother-in-law who decided to send her home.
One politician, Nishikant Mishra, recommended the girl’s family be given £2,257 in support funds.
India is one of the world’s most dangerous places for women, with a rape occurring on average every 15 minutes based on federal data.
Protests (pictured on October 5) have been held across India following the alleged gang-rape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman
An average of nearly 90 rapes were reported in India every day last year, according to data by the National Crime Records Bureau, but large numbers are thought to go unreported.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that a man who claimed to be an ‘exorcist’ repeatedly raped a 14-year-old girl over a three-month period after telling her parents he had to use ‘tantric methods to cure her’.
The girl’s parents took her to the man, who claimed to be a sorcerer offering cures for a variety of ailments, hoping to find a solution for the teenager’s physical and mental health illnesses in July.
The ‘sorcerer’ told the family to attend his offices each week. He allegedly raped the 14-year-old there on each occasion.
Last month, a three-year-old girl was raped and strangled in India as part of an on-going feud between rival families, the victim’s father claimed.