Patna: Four persons were arrested on Monday for alleged involvement in the Jehanabad molestation case, which surfaced through a video clip that went viral on social media on Sunday.
"We have arrested four persons, including a minor, in connection with the molestation of the girl. Investigations are on. Efforts are on to arrest four or five more persons involved in the incident," said Patna zonal inspector-general (IG) N.H. Khan.
Three of those arrested were identified as Amar Kumar, son of Jaddu Yadav; Deepak Kumar, son of Dinesh Yadav; and Sunil Kumar, son of Kapil Yadav. The police have not revealed the identity of the fourth person as he is a minor.
"They are all residents of Bharthua village, which comes under the jurisdiction of Belavar police outpost under Kako police station in Jehanabad. All four of them as well as those who are at present absconding used to hang out together in the area," Khan said.
All the four arrested persons have been charged under sections 376 (rape) and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the IPC; Section 8 of the Protection of Child from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012, that entails punishment for sexual assault, and Section 66E (violation of privacy) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. More sections could be added as investigation progresses.
Police believe the crime was committed sometime on April 28 and the video clip was uploaded the same evening. It went viral on Sunday. The cyber crime cell is trying to ascertain the time of the incident.
The accused were traced and identified on the basis of the video clip, which showed a group of eight or nine boys disrobing and molesting a girl, who seemed to be a minor, who kept struggling to save her modesty and kept pleading for several minutes to the brutes to let her go.
A motorcycle and its registration number that was captured in the video provided the much-required lead for the police. It also led to the place of occurrence, a deserted stretch of rural road leading towards Bharthua village. However, the owner of the two-wheeler is yet to be nabbed.
An FIR was lodged at Jehanabad police station by sub-inspector S.S. Singh on the basis of the video clip on Sunday afternoon. Zonal IG Khan formed a special investigation team to crack the case.
The police said the arrested persons have confessed their involvement in the incident. A smartphone belonging to Amar Kumar with which he allegedly filmed the act and later uploaded it on social media has also been recovered.
"They waylaid the girl on a deserted stretch of a rural road, which is over 500m away from habitation, and outraged her modesty. It is a heinous incident and we are shocked that the boys had so much criminality," IG Khan said.
However, the police are yet to trace the survivor and is making all-out efforts with the help of women police personnel, women's helpline and local residents to reach out to her.
Some torn papers from notebooks at the place of incident have thrown up a name and suggest that the girl was a student and was returning from her institution after the day's studies.
"We will do everything, including quick filing of chargesheet in the case, and request speedy trial to ensure exemplary punishment for the culprits," said Khan.
