A teenage girl was allegedly raped by two unidentified persons, while another accomplice restrained her male friend, on a deserted stretch on the outskirts of Gujarat’s Vadodara city, police said on Saturday.

The alleged crime was committed on a Navratri night when revellers come out in large numbers to participate in garba events organised throughout the city. The survivor told the police that she had gone out to meet her childhood male friend at the city’s Laxmipura area at around 11 pm, said Rohan Anand, Superintendent of Police - Vadodara (rural).

“They were returning through the Bhayli locality on a Scooty when at around midnight, five persons on two-wheelers intercepted them on an isolated road,” the police officer said. Two of them left after some argument, while three others remained. Of these three, two individuals raped the teenage girl, while the third person restrained her male friend, he said.

“As soon as the culprits left, the teens informed the police. Cops reached the spot, cordoned off the area and collected evidence. Teams have been formed to identify the culprits using technical surveillance and other means,” Anand said. The Gujarat government has lifted restrictions on garba celebration timings for this year’s Navratri festival. 

A lot of evidence has been recovered from the site. “It was very dark in this place at night. The victim and her friend could not recognise the faces of the accused, but they have described their style of speech and body build. This incident has nothing to do with Garba,” a senior police officer said.

An investigation has been initiated based on the complaint of the victim’s father. The victim’s friend is studying in class 11. Five teams of district police (LCB, SOG, and city police) have been deployed to apprehend the accused.

In a similar crime, a 21-year-old woman was allegedly raped by three unidentified persons, who also tied her male friend using his clothes and belt and assaulted him, at an isolated place on the outskirts of Pune in Maharashtra on Thursday night, police had said.

Last month, the fiancée of an army officer was allegedly sexually assaulted under Bhubaneswar’s Bharatpur police station. Narrating her harrowing experience to the media, the woman said she was repeatedly kicked on her chest before a police inspector assaulted and also flashed her. As the incident triggered nationwide outrage, Odisha Police suspended five officers, including the Inspector-in-charge of Bharatpur Police Station.

In the same month two young Indian Army officers were beaten up, and one of their two women friends was allegedly raped by unidentified men when the four were out on a picnic in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore district near Mhow-Mandleshwar road.