Thirteen tribal women, including three minors, were allegedly gang-raped by a group of unidentified youths at a brick kiln in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh on 21 February 2007.

The incident came to light on 22 February 2007 when BJP MLA Ram Iqbal Singh informed the police about it. The Bhimpur circle police arrested nine persons, including the kiln’s owner and a clerk, and recovered a large quantity of country-made liquor from the spot. An illegal distillery of country-made liquor was being run from the kiln premises. “We had sent the women for medical examination and the report is awaited,” said Ballia Superintendent of Police Aqramul Haq.

Mahila Hospital chief medical superintendent Dr Yog Maya Trivedi said the medical examination had been completed and confirmed that “some women were found to have been raped”. She did not say how many. “Medical examinations on the minors were also conducted,” she said. “We are making arrangements to send these tribal women to their native places in Bihar once the examination are over,” said SP Haq.

According to one of the victims, about 20 drunken youths came to the brick kiln run by a local businessman Guddu Singh around 11.20 pm on 21 February 2007 wearing masks and started molesting the women sleeping in their mud houses. When the women’s relatives objected, a brawl broke out ending in the alleged rape of the 13 women.

“They threw our belongings and children out of the houses, beat up our men and raped me and other women,” one of the victims said. “When we came to know about the incident on 22 February 2007, we immediately sent a team to the site,” said SP Haq. (Source: The Indian Express)