Five women from a non-profit organisation were gang-raped at gunpoint by at least half a dozen men when they visited a village in Jharhand's Khunti district to raise awareness on migration and human trafficking.
Rapists made a video of the brutal attack and used it to threaten the women with exposure if they lodged a complaint, police officials said.
The 11-member team from the NGO had gone to hold a street play against human trafficking when a group of armed men came on bikes and took away the women at gunpoint. The gang beat up the men who accompanied the women. The women were released three hours later.
“The survivors, in their statement, alleged that the accused threatened them not to enter the area without their permission to propagate the government’s agenda,” Ranchi DIG Amol V Homkar told TOI on Thursday.
Nine people have been detained for questioning, however no arrests have been made.
The perpetrators are believed to be Pathalgadi supporters. Pathalgadi is a movement that declares gram sabha as the sole sovereign authority. The group rejects the authority of the state and central governments.
FILE PHOTO: A woman walks past a poster displaying a message of defiance to the terror attack of May 22 at the Manchester Arena, in Manchester, northwest England on May 31, 2017. (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)