On a day when eight youths were arrested for the Pakur gang-rape, Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday announced full support to victims, saying it would not be limited to compensation.
“This is a serious matter so we will make every effort to make them self-sustaining. The Government will also bear their future educational and training expenses,” he said. The CM said the four Pahariya girls were being provided all medical assistance and emphasised on better security in other schools located in such remote areas.
“Eight of the nine suspects have been arrested and the last one will be arrested soon,” Soren asserted. They are all under 18 years of age and belong to the nearby Jamjari village, some 500 meters from the school. According to the police, they were drunk and had come with an intention of raping the girls.
Four girls in the age-group of 12 to 15 years, belonging to the primitive Pahariya tribe, were sexually assaulted for two hours outside a residential school at lawada village, some 350 km from the State capital, late on Sunday. All four are critical at Sadar Hospital.
The boys locked the schoolteachers inside a classroom, snatched away cellphones and entered the girl’s hostel and took them away to nearby jungles, according to the school principal.
The police said the 25 boys were armed with knives and other traditional weapons and took the guards hostage.