Tribal girl gang-raped in Jharkhand's Dumka, boyfriend assaulted

Dumka, Aug 26 (PTI) A 17-year-old tribal girl was allegedly gang-raped in Jharkhand's Dumka district by four to five men who also assaulted her boyfriend, police said on Tuesday.

The incident happened in the Gumra forest in the Kathikund police station area on Monday, they said.

"The girl, belonging to a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG), had come on a coal-laden truck along with the cleaner of the vehicle with whom she was having an affair," said Kathikund police station's officer-in-charge Tripurari Kumar.

"They asked the driver to unload the coal at Dumka and return, and they would board the truck again. While they were walking along the road, they were accosted by four-five youths," he said.

These youths beat up the boyfriend and raped the girl, he added.

"In the morning, the girl came to the police station along with her boyfriend and narrated the incident. Since she was speaking in a tribal dialect, we had to arrange for an interpreter to understand her complaint before lodging a formal FIR," the officer said.

Four youths are being interrogated in connection with the incident, he said.

"The girl has been sent for medical examination to the Dumka Sadar Hospital. Her condition is stable as per the doctors," he said.

Dumka's SP Pitamber Singh Kherwar told PTI that an arrest in the case would be made soon. PTI CORR NAM SOM