Based on the complaint, the four accused aged between 20 and 22 years were detained and sent for medical examination. (Representational)

The Mahisagar police on Saturday detained four youths for the gang rape of a Dalit minor girl on Friday. All the four, from the same village as the 16-year-old girl, have been booked under Indian Penal Code section 376 D (gang rape), provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

According to a complaint lodged by the survivor’s father, the girl had gone to the nearby farm to dump waste when the accused accosted her and raped her. She informed her parents who took her to the police station and lodged a complaint.

Based on the complaint, the four accused aged between 20 and 22 years were detained and sent for medical examination.

“The four have been detained and sent for Covid-19 testing. They will be arrested only after they test negative,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police, SC/ST cell, Mahisagar, Dhaval Bhatt.

Meanwhile, police denied allegations that an inspector at the jurisdictional police station refused to name all the four accused in the case. In a video that was widely shared on social media, the girl’s father alleges that the police initially accepted the application and named only one person as accused.

“My daughter told me that they named only person in the FIR instead of four. After pleading that they take action against all the perpetrators, they finally took all the four under their custody and named them in the FIR,” the father is heard saying in the video.

However, a senior officer of the jurisdiction said, “There was some confusion. Initially, when the survivor approached us, she named only one person. On further interrogation, three other names surfaced, which were added to the FIR… all of them have been detained as well. The family has no issues and the confusion has been resolved. The investigation is under way.”