Four youths have been arrested for allegedly raping three girls, two of them sisters, for the past couple of years in Shobhavad village of Talaja taluka of Bhavnagar district, police said today.
"Three girls, aged between 15 and 17 years, were being threatened by the accused and raped repeatedly for the past two years. The accused are residents of the same village," Bhavnagar District Superintendent of Police Dipankar Trivedi told PTI.
"One of the four arrested claims that he is a minor," Trivedi said, adding that his medical examination was being conducted to ascertain his age.
Police Sub-Inspector S G Khambhala of Talaja taluka police station said the accused had been raping the three girls for around two years.
Two of the three girls are sisters, while the third one is their cousin, he said.
"The elder sister yesterday told their parents that four boys of the same village had been sexually exploiting them, following which the family approached the police and the youths were arrested subsequently," Khambhla said.
The police have conducted the medical examination of the girls and confirmed rape.
A case was registered under IPC sections 376 (rape) and 114 (abetment) along with Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO), Act, he said.
