3 Arrested on Charges of 17-Year-Old’s Gang Rape, Murder in Bengal

Representational image of a crime scene.

(Photo: iStock) 

The charred body of a 17- year-old girl was found under a culvert in West Bengal's South Dinajpur district, police said, on Tuesday, 7 December, with the victim's family alleging that she was gang-raped and then set ablaze, PTI reported.

All the three accused – Mahbubur Mian, Pankaj Burman and Gautam Burman – were arrested on Tuesday, the police said, according to IANS.

The charred body of the girl with injury marks was found under a culvert in Kumarganj area on Monday, district Superintendent of Police Debarshi Dutta said.

“A case of gang rape has been registered on the basis of her family’s complaint, but we cannot confirm rape till we get the post-mortem report. The accused, however, have been booked under section 376D (gangrape) and 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code,” Dutta said, according to The Indian Express.

The victim's brother said she went missing on the way to a nearby shop on Sunday afternoon, according to PTI.

Local BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar had warned of a major agitation if the culprits were not brought to book.

Terming the incident ‘unfortunate’, Kumarganj TMC MLA Toraf Hossain Mandal demanded an impartial probe.

A woman's charred body was found in a mango orchard in Malda district in December last year, days after a similar incident occurred in Hyderabad leading to a nationwide uproar over women safety.

(With inputs from The Indian Express, IANS and PTI.)