Two teenage girls gang-raped in woods as they celebrated Holi festival in India

Police say victim was in relationship with one of accused

Indian women’s rights activists during a candle light march in Delhi in December 2019 to denounce violence against women (EPA)

Two teenage girls were gang-raped in a forest area in Tripura, a state in northeast India, by eight men who were later arrested by the local police.

The attack took place in Tripura’s Khowai district on Monday on the day of Holi when the victims, aged 14 and 15, went for a stroll with two of the accused after celebrating.

“A total of eight accused aged 19-22 have been arrested in the case,” Dr Kiran Kumar K, who is superintendent of police in Khowai district, told The Independent.

“Of them, two were with the victims for the whole day while they celebrated Holi One of the victims was in a relationship with one of those two boys.

“The boys had consumed alcohol as well. After celebrating Holi, they went for a stroll where they were joined by six others. They took the girls to a secluded place where they forced themselves on the girls.”

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The superintendent said the police acted swiftly and all the eight accused were arrested on the same day of the complaint.

The accused have been sent to police custody for four days while investigations are underway.

Rape and molestation of women is an infamous problem in India.

According to a government report into crime, 32,033 cases of rape were registered in the country in 2019, with Tripura seeing 88 of those cases.

One of the main highlights of the annual reports has been that in the majority of rape cases in India the offender is known to the victim. In 2019, the accused were known to the victims in at least 94 per cent of cases (30,165).