Mangaluru, Jul 10 (PTI) Five people have been booked on charges of raping a minor dalit girl from Vittal in Dakshina Kannada district, police sources said Wednesday.
The 17-year-old girl is now six months pregnant following the continuous sexual assault by five men in the area since December last, they said.
A case under IPC sections 376, 506 and provisions of POCSO Act and SC/ST Atrocities (prevention) Act has been registered against the accused.
The matter came to light when an ASHA worker visited the house of the victim who narrated the incidents to her and later filed a police complaint.
She named the five people who assaulted her in the complaint.
The girl had just completed SSLC examination when she was first abused by her cousin Ganesh who took her to Subramanya and raped her for two days.
In the next few months, she was assaulted by the other accused on various occasions.
The girl, in her complaint, said she was threatened by the accused of dire consequences if she divulged the matter to anyone.
Further investigation is in progress and the police are on the look-out for the culprits, the sources said.
This comes days after a dalit student was gang-raped by her college mates, sending shock waves among people in the district.
Five students of a private college at Puttur were arrested after the video clip of the incident had gone viral on the social media.