When this reporter visited her on Saturday, she sat on her bed staring into space. While returning from school on December 12, she had been waylaid and gang-raped. The eldest of two sisters and two brothers, the girl is a class VII student of the Government High School, located barely half a kilometre from her place. She lost her father recently and her mother works as a domestic help in the village.

At the close of school hours on December 12, she started walking on her way home. She had barely covered half the distance, when one of her former classmates, who had studied with her the previousyear, approached her. The classmate told her that her grandfather was seriously ill and asked her to accompany her to the doctor's clinic. The unsuspecting village girl did so, little knowing what she was in for.

They reached the clinic which was closed. Bewildered, the victim was trying to come to terms with the situation, when she sensed someone behind her. Before she could turn around, she was overpowered by a hand which covered her nose with a handkerchief, and she fell unconscious.

Forty-eight hours later, when she regained consciousness, she found herself in one of the rooms of an unoccupied house located on the outskirts of the village. The house had been locked from the outside. She was then gang-raped by three youths – Sunil, Bhupinder and Satish – over a period of two days. Her captors cut her hair and she found herself dressed as a boy. Police suspect that the plan was to dump her outside the village. Her boyish looks and outfit would have make the task easy for the captors.

The mother ofthe victim reported to the police. On the morning of December 14, one of her friends told the distressed mother of the rape victim that she had seen her walking along with a girl towards a house.

Accompanied by cops, the mother and relatives proceeded in the direction that the eye-witness took them to. They soon reached the locked house. The police broke it open and found the girl lying dazed. Her school uniform was lying torn by her side. She was then shifted to the Gynaecology Dept of the Rohtak Medical College for medical examination. The report is still awaited. It was in hospital that she gathered the courage to tell the police her tale and the names of the suspects.

Police told The Indian Express today that two of the accused, Satish and Bhupinder, had been arrested under Section 363, 366, 376 and 342. The third accused, Sunil, surrendered in the local court and all three had been remanded to police custody upto December 22.