New Delhi — Police in the southern Indian state of Kerala have arrested 49 of the 64 men accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old girl over the past five years. The girl, who has not been identified, reportedly told investigators that she had been sexually assaulted and gang-raped since she was 13 years old.
The girl's childhood friend, as well as neighbors and family friends, are among the accused in the attacks, police told CBS News. BBC News. Among the accused are at least five students of her college and former classmates from her school, according to the Indian agency A minute of news.
Most of the accused are either teenagers or in their 20s Times of India.
“Forty-nine people have been taken into custody,” Pathanamthita district deputy police chief Nandakumar S told AFP on Wednesday. “We have identified the remaining 14 people and they will be arrested soon.”
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The alleged abuse began five years ago when the girl's neighbor allegedly molested her and took sexually explicit photos and videos, which he then shared with others and used to blackmail the girl, continuing to abuse her.
Police told Indian media that the girl had allegedly been raped three times in the past five years.
The alleged abuse came to light last month when a group of counselors working under a government program visited her home.
“She consulted, and she opened up to a psychologist, talking about the sexual violence she faced since the age of 13,” Indian Express quoted N. Rajiv, head of the National Committee for Child Welfare.
The Kerala Police has tasked a team of 25 officers to investigate the allegations.
At least 18 cases have been registered in relation to the girl's alleged abuse so far under various Indian laws – including the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, which aims to prevent crimes against people from lower castes and tribes in Centuries-old social hierarchy of India.
The victim of the mass violence in Kerala is a member of the Dalit community, the lowest caste in India. Dalits have faced widespread discrimination and abuse for many years.
Criminal cases were also registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act as most of the alleged abuse took place when the girl was a minor, Deputy Superintendent Nandakumar told the BBC Hindi service.
The horrific scale of the alleged abuse has made national headlines in a country where nearly 90 rapes were reported every day on average in 2022, the latest year for which national data is available. Many others are believed to go unnoticed.