Khunti police have arrested six youths for allegedly gang-raping a 15-year-old tribal girl for around three months along with six other associates.

The district police on Sunday arrested Bajrang, Rohit, Manish, Suraj, Prakash and Rahul and forwarded them to judicial custody.

“Rest of their associates has been identified and they will be arrested very soon,” said Khunti superintendent of police (SP) Ashutosh Shekhar.

“Police have lodged an FIR against the accused under suitable sections of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) besides Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and the case is being investigated on priority basis. Police will ensure justice to the girl.”

The incident came to light when the girl approached the district legal service authority (DLSA) about a week ago and narrated how she was subjected to gang-rape at gun point. She said her periods had stopped for the last one month.

The DLSA promptly directed the district child welfare committee to look into the matter and the girl’s statement was recorded before members of the committee. The committee forwarded the matter to the Khunti SP for action on February 27, after which the FIR was lodged.

A police sources narrated the sequence of events before that.

Last year, the girl became friends with a youth named Bajrang. Bajrang later introduced her to his friend Suraj. Both men are residents of Bagru village. One day Suraj and Bajrang took the girl out on a ride and both men consumed local liquor. Bajrang forcibly took her mobile phone and asked her to go home. Later on she called Bajrang and requested him to return her phone. Bajrang asked her to come to meet him. When she went to retrieve her phone, Bajrang took her to an abandoned place and raped her. Every time Bajrang used to call her to return her mobile and rape her along with his friends.

In her statement to the police, the girl said she was gang-raped 25 to 30 times at gunpoint. Every time, 10 to 12 men used to assemble to rape her. She said that she knows some of them by name and the rest she can identify by face.

The girl’s trauma began when her parents separated. She used to stay with her mother and stepfather. Her mother used to torture her, so she started living with her maternal grandparents. But she had to leave the house of her grandparents as her mother did not like it.

“We have lodged her at the district shelter home and we are taking care of her besides her regular counselling is going on since she is under stress,” said a district administration source. “She has studied up to Class V.”