Mob, including lawyers, thrashes 17 men accused of raping differently-abled minor at Chennai court

Seventeen men accused of gangraping a 11-year-old differently-abled girl in Chennai were assaulted by a mob at a Chennai court on Tuesday. The accused had just come out of the court hall when a mob, including lawyers, started thrashing them. The court had remanded all 17 accused to judicial custody till 31 July for allegedly gangraping the child over a period of seven months at the residential apartment where she lives with her family.

#BREAKING - The 17 men accused of raping a 12-year-old for 7 months in Chennai were beaten up by a mob inside a court | @nimumurali with the report #ChennaiRapeCase pic.twitter.com/gzZvSGkWup

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The colony watchman, liftman, and water supplier are also accused in the case. The case came to light on 13 July, when the girl complained of a stomach pain to her elder sister. On further probing, she revealed that some men used to sexually assault her on repeated occasions. A police officer handling the case said, “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.” The child’s mother said 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 said. 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.