11-year-old girl gang-raped for months in Chennai residential building; 17 men, including building's watchman, arrested

An 11-year-old differently-abled girl was allegedly gangraped over several months at a residential building in Chennai. The police has arrested 17 people, including the building’s security guard and water supplier, according to a NDTV report. [caption id=“attachment_4637711” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Courtesy: News18[/caption] “Three men have confessed to their crime,” a senior police officer said. The girl was allegedly sedated by giving spiked soft drinks and was also blackmailed, police said. According to a report in The New Indian Express, the incident came to light on 13 July, when the victim, a Class VII student, informed her elder sister that she was suffering from stomach pain. “She told her sister that she was raped, sometimes even gang-raped, by the men working in the apartment they lived in. Subsequently, the sister informed the parents who lodged a complaint with the police,” said a police officer. In the complaint, the victim’s mother has said that the assaults began on 15 January when the lift operator, Ravi, took the child to an isolated place in the apartment complex and raped her. “A few days later, he brought two other men from outside, who were under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and raped her,” the complaint says. The mother alleged that the men had taken the girl to isolated places in the complex, including the basement and public washrooms and raped her. On Monday, her statement was recorded in the Mahila Court, the report added.