A 16-year-old girl, who claimed to have been brought to Pune from West Bengal in India, on the pretext of a job, alleged that she was brutally tortured and forced into prostitution for the past two years, during which she was raped by over a hundred people, including at least two policemen, the popular Indian daily Times of India reported.
The victim, who escaped to New Delhi last month, lodged a complaint with the police there which was transferred to Pune police and a First-Information Report (FIR) was registered against 113 people.
The Vimantal police station arrested a 26-year-old woman in connection with the case on Sunday.
Vimantal police station in-charge Senior Police Inspector Sanjay Kurundkar said, “The minor girl’s medical test was conducted in Delhi. She has also given a statement before a metropolitan magistrate.”
Police officials said the 16-year-old girl hailed from the Siliguri area near the Nepal-India border.
Her grandmother ran a tea stall frequented by one of the arrested accused. The victim was promised a job at a Pune beauty parlour, where she was brought in Jan 2014.
She was forced into prostitution not long after, and the accused raped her, drugged her and forced her to engage in sexual acts with many people, police said.
She was kept at various locations, including Sanjay Park, Viman Nagar and Kharadi, they said. The victim, in her complaint, alleged that she was also taken to Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Bhopal for sex work, the cops said.
She was brought to Pune again where she was forced to engage in more sex work, beaten and forced to undergo an abortion after becoming pregnant.
ToI said the case is linked to another case regarding a 24-year-old model from Delhi who was allegedly subjected to attempted rape and torture after refusing to perform sexual favours in return for help becoming an actress.
ToI added that four accused who live in Kalyani Nagar were arrested in the model case by Chandan Nagar police officials, while three other accused named in the complaint are part of a sex racket in the city.
Kurundkar said, “We have arrested one accused who has been remanded in police custody till April 22. We will move an application for custody of the four accused earlier arrested by Chandan Nagar police.”
