22-yr-old deaf, speech impaired woman gangraped in Chhattisgarh; 5 arrested

Bilaspur: A 22-year-old deaf and mute woman was allegedly raped by five men in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district, police said on Tuesday.

All the accused have been arrested. The alleged incident took place on the night of August 25 in a village under the Marwahi police station limits, said Pradip Arya, Station House Officer (SHO).

The woman was returning home from the market when the accused forced her to sit on a motorcycle and took her to a nearby secluded place where they allegedly raped her. After committing the crime they fled, leaving her at the spot.

On reaching home, she narrated the incident to her mother and aunt through sign language, after which a complaint was lodged at Marwahi police station on Monday, SHO Arya said.

The police called up a teacher from a school for the differently-abled to communicate with the girl.

The accused were identified as Dole Kujur, Sanjiv Kumar Uraon, Suraj Lahre, Krishna Kujur and Gauri Shankar Uraon, and all of them were soon rounded up.

A case of gangrape and other relevant offences under the Indian Penal Code was registered against them, the SHO said, adding that further probe was on.