Tripura: Girl raped in moving car; two arrested

Agartala, Aug 22 (IANS) Tripura police arrested two suspects accused in connection with the rape of a 16-year-old girl in the Gomati district inside a moving car, police said on Friday.

They are identified as Mithun Debnath (24) and Bower Debbarma (24), who hail from Maharani in the same Gomati district.

According to the police official, the girl, accompanied by two of her neighbours, went to the Tripura Sundari temple in the Gomati district headquarters, Udaipur, on Thursday evening.

After visiting the famous temple, the suspect took the girl to Udaipur railway station in a car.

“On the way to the railway station, Mithun and Bower reportedly raped her in the moving vehicle,” the police official said.

He said that initially, three were detained at the Kakraban checkgate in Udaipur subdivision when they were returning to their homes. The girl told the police that she had been raped by two of her companions.

Following a complaint from the victim's family on Friday, two of the three youths were arrested for their alleged involvement in the crime. Suspected accused Mithun Debnath is a relative of the victim girl.

A forensic team has examined the vehicle in which the girl was raped. The girl was produced before a local court to register her statement in front of the magistrate as part of the ongoing investigation.

Police have registered a case under stringent sections of the law, specifically Section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which deals with penetrative sexual assault on a child, and relevant sections (64(1), 61(2)) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Both accused individuals are currently under interrogation at the police station as the investigation continues.

Police officials have said that they would conduct a thorough and swift probe into the matter.

--IANS

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