Minor girl travelling in car sexually assaulted by two armed men on Pune–Solapur highway

In a heart-wrenching incident, a minor girl who was travelling with her family in a car was allegedly sexually assaulted by two motorbike-borne men near Bhigwan on the Pune-Solapur highway.

 

The assailants also robbed three women passengers in the car of their gold ornaments before fleeing the spot.

 

According to reports, there were seven people belonging to two different families in the car—the 70-year-old driver, three women, the 17-year-old girl and two 17-year-old boys.

 

The incident took place in the early morning on Monday when the families were on their way to Pandharpur temple town in Solapur district. The two men armed with weapons approached the car when the driver stopped the vehicle for a tea break.

 

"As the driver felt sleepy, he halted the car near a tea stall. When the driver stepped out to answer nature's call, two unidentified men approached the vehicle, threatened the occupants with sharp weapons and robbed gold jewellery. One of the accused then took the minor girl out of the car and sexually assaulted her," a police officer told PTI news agency.

 

The assailants fled the spot on their motorbike after which the passengers of the car managed to man up and informed the police.

 

A case has been registered at the Daund police station of Pune rural police under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Section 64, 309(6), 351(2), 3(5) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) 4 and 6 and Arms Act Section 4, 25.

 

Pune rural police Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sandeep Singh Gill has formed multiple teams to nab the accused.

 

The incident came a few months after a 26-year-old woman was raped inside a stationary Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus at the Swargate terminus in Pune.

 

According to police, the victim was waiting for a bus to go to her native place in Satart in the early hours of February 25 when a man approached her posing as a bus conductor, and offered to take her to a waiting bus.

The accused took her to an empty bus and closed both doors and allegedly raped her.

India