AHMADABAD, India – An 18-year-old student accused six of her college tutors of rape in western India, police said Tuesday after arresting the suspects.
The young woman said the six men had raped her several times in the past four months on the campus of the Primary Teacher's Training College in Patan, Gujarat state, local superintendent of police Raghvendra Vats said.
The men were arrested Monday but not charged, and a court ordered them to be held for seven days while police investigated the allegations, Vats said.
The victim also claimed the teachers photographed her using mobile phone cameras and threatened her with dire consequences if she told anyone about the attacks, Vats said without elaborating.
More than 90 female students have complained to the college principal about sexual harassment at the school, but this was the first formal complaint against teaching staff, he said.
College principal K.T. Poraniya was not available for comment Tuesday.
As news of the rape and molestation claims spread across the campus Monday, angry students and their families went on a rampage and attacked the accused teachers and damaged furniture, local media reported.
Sexual abuse and rape are often taboo subjects in conservative India and experts say such crimes often go unreported because of the shame associated with them.
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