17-year-old raped by 8 men in Haryana's Mewat, hangs herself

A 17-year-old girl was allegedly abducted and subsequently raped by eight men in Haryana's Mewat, following which she committed suicide, the police said today.

The girl was found lying unconscious after she was gang-raped in a secluded area in Nuh district after being abducted from her house on Monday, according to a complaint filed by the girl's father with the police.

The teenager was alone in the house when the accused came on two motorcycles and a car and abducted her, it said.

After committing the crime, the accused fled the spot, a police officer of Rojka Meo police station said over phone today.

Following the incident, the girl allegedly committed suicide in her house on Tuesday by hanging herself.

Her father told the police that the 17-year-old had identified the accused, who had stalked her in the past as well.

"We have registered a case of abduction, gang-rape and abetment to suicide against the accused, and are conducting raids to nab them," said Rojka Mev SHO Jai Bhagwan.

"Investigations in the case are on," SP, Mewat, Nazneen Bhasin said. 

Registered cases of sexual violence have been steadily rising despite the national outrage that followed the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi in 2012.

Amid the wave of anger at that time, the government promised to speed up rape trials, introduce harsher penalties, including the death sentence in extreme cases, and introduced a law against stalking.

But statistics show that since 2012, reported rape cases climbed 60 percent to about 40,000 in 2016, with child rape accounting for about 40 percent of them.

(With inputs from PTI)