13-year-old girl raped in Odisha, two held

Bhubaneswar  :  Two people have been arrested in Odisha’s Sundergarh district for raping a 13-year-old girl, police said Saturday.

The incident occurred Jan 10 near Chungimati village under Kansbahal police outpost area, about 480 km from state capital, but came to light only after the girl’s family lodged a complaint with the police Thursday, sub-divisional police officer S.K.Panigrahi told IANS.

Panigrahi said the girl had gone along with her friends to answer nature’s call on the banks of a river near the village. While returning, the girl went back alone to the river bank to collect something she had forgotten to take earlier.

While returning to join her friends, two people aged 40 and 25 dragged her to a secluded place and raped her, the police officer said.

The girl narrated the incident to her elder sister five days later. Her family consulted villagers and informed the police Thursday, he said.

Police have arrested both the offenders. The victim was medically examined, the police officer said.

In a separate case, an eleven-year-old schoolgirl was raped in the state’s Sonepur district Friday.

Hemsagar Bhoi, a police officer in the area, said the girl, a resident of Bagbar village, had gone to a nearby pond to answer nature’s call during the recess at school, when a 50-year-old man forcibly took her to an isolated spot and committed the crime. “Efforts are on to nab the offender” Bhoi told IANS.

The district headquarters of Sonepur is 279 km from state capital Bhubaneswar. Bagbar village is about 25 km from the district headquarters.